ÂŠ 1990 Raymond Mears
ISBN 1 85648 180 8
First Published 1990 By
The Oxford Illustrated Press,
This Edition Published 1994 By
The Promotional Reprint Company
Ltd, Exclusively For Bookmart Ltd,
Desford Road, Enderby, Leicester,
LE9 5AD
Printed and bound in China
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or by any information
storage retrieval system, without the permission
of the publisher.

This book is dedicated to the memory of
Kingsley Royce Hopkins my guide and mentor
for nearly sixteen years, who passed away
during the production of the manuscript. His
will be a tough act to follow.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all those people who have encouraged
and supported me during the writing of this book, and the
fellow outdoors enthusiasts with whom I have shared campfire and trail. In particular, I would like to mention the
following in no specific order: my patient and long-suffering
parents, Nick Crane the instigator, Philip Wells and Sally
Collings, James and Brenda Locke, Roger Hopkins for some
twentieth-century wizardry, Vivien Drake, Roy Belanger,
Charles 'Badger' Taylor, Richard Kluckhohn, Scott Kuipers,
Mike Clinchy, Robert Craigie, Kurt Folsom, Richard and
Ruth Bennett and the seventh Purley Scout Group.

Introduction
'My son, you know no one will help you in this world . . .
You must run to that mountain and come back. That will
make you strong. My son, you know no one is your friend,
not even your sister, your father, your mother. Your legs are
your friends; your brain is your friend; your hands arc your
friends; you must do something with them.'
(The words of an Apache father, An Apache Life by Morris
Opler.)

Do you like clean air, fresh water and the
wonders of the natural world? If so read on for
this book is written for you.
The skills contained within this book are
not new, experts have been writing about
them for nearly a hundred years, grouping
them together under the well-suited title of
'woodcraft'. In more recent years they have
somehow acquired a macho image and been
renamed survival skills. There is no real harm
in this but for the fact that in the process,
many of the techniques have been inaccurately described. To those of us who grew up
with, and still use the original skills of
woodcraft, these errors are alarming if
sometimes funny. But more importantly they
represent the watering down and gradual
disappearance of knowledge and experience
which was formerly passed from father to son,
mother to daughter. Were these skills to
disappear altogether it would be a tragedy,
for they are our birthright, a living link with
our palaeolithic ancestors, that allows us to
see nature with
native
eyes
and
understanding.
Today the skills are less easily acquired;
many of the old masters are gone, and
without the reality of living and having to
survive in the wilderness, few have time to
serve the long apprenticeship in the wild.

However if you are in no hurry to master
them the techniques which follow can be
gradually learned and perfected. They are the
skills of the native which, once learned, can
enable you to be totally self sufficient in a
natural environment. In studying them you
will certainly learn much about yourself. But
this is not the only value of the skills, for even
in our age of space exploration the awareness,
understanding and attunement to nature
which is a natural by-product of their study
will boost your confidence, enhance your
appreciation of the fragile world we inhabit
and enable you to enjoy your outdoor
pursuits more fully. Like suddenly taking off a
blindfold you will be dazzled by the view; the
plants and animals around you will become
more familiar, useful and meaningful.
All of the skills covered in the following
pages are described from practical experience. In choosing which skills to include I
have described those techniques which can be
most easily self taught, and wherever possible
have included alternatives. Whilst this means
inevitably that I have described the techniques I most often employ myself, I must stress
that these are not the only ways to do things;
hopefully you will gradually evolve your own
techniques.

5

into as many as twelve or fourteen distinct
seasons. A closeness to the Earth and a
detailed understanding of the environment
were the real secrets of survival. To them the
Earth was their mother; people were born
from her and returned to her at death. Home
was the 'wilderness, and life was a gift to be
enjoyed and made full use of, man's role in
nature being to 'look after the land. The
workings of nature were a constant source of
wonder and fascination.
Tempered by the reality of their huntergatherer existence they did not cloud their
vision of life with romantic notions, they
accepted that to live they must take the life of
a plant or an animal. This showed no lack of
reverence for the living, in fact many native
hunters would say prayers and leave offerings
to their prey who they believed allowed itself
to be caught because it recognised the
hunter's need for food or clothing.
Without the equipment to see viruses and
bacteria, diseases were attributed to bad
spirits, and were eloquently explained in
folklore. Compared to our sophisticated
modern view of the world these beliefs seem
comically primitive, but in reality they
provided a detailed working guide to survival
in an untamed wilderness. Today we can
understand and explain many of the phenomenon that so puzzled these hunters; we
are able to avoid the bad spirits at a water
hole from making us ill by purifying our
water. But this can make us complacent for
when faced with a river to cross we have no
more control over the torrent than our
forefathers or the Indian brave - although
they stopped to leave an offering of food or
sacred tobacco in recognition of the danger of
the crossing. Recognising danger is the first
step to avoiding it. For this reason let us
absorb the native folklore that is of use and fill
in the gaps with our own wisdom. And like
the native hunter or warrior, let us pay heed
to the teachings of the animals, masters of
stealth, camouflage and awareness. This is the
study of 'Woodlore'.
Days spent in the wilds or on the trail are
challenging and excitingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;full of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;there is
the campfire, rain, sun and wind; the sweet
comforting scents of the differing seasons; the
sounds of lizards scuttling under stones or
mice daring to cross your trail; these are the
things you will remember. Yet there is risk,
danger and intoxicating adventure in which

The aim is to describe the methods by
which you can find natural alternatives to
modern outdoors equipment, and by so doing
enhance your perception of nature. Since I
began my own study of these techniques my
view of the natural world has radically
altered: the grass is like a carpet and the sky a
ceiling; many fears have evaporated allowing
deeper enjoyment, and on those few occasions
each year when I 'go walk about' and rely
solely upon my woodcraft abilities and
nature's gifts, the feeling of refreshed
wholeness and connection with wild things is
indescribable. Even when climbing or
backpacking, woodcraft skills cannot be
turned off and you will find yourself watching
woodpeckers and magnificent birds of prey
from crag tops or, supplementing your prepackaged 'trail mix' with fresh wild delights.
Recently a youngster I was teaching said,
'you would be alright if you lost your rucksack
and all your gear wouldn't you?' He had hit
the nail on the head. When you understand
nature and know how to procure your needs
from her gifts there is little to fear and
everything to enjoy.
For my own part, the study of woodcraft
has taken me to many beautiful areas of
wilderness, and introduced me to experts,
craftsmen and fine people, many of whom are
interested in wildlife and the future of our
own species. Undoubtedly these experiences
have influenced my own attitudes to nature
although perhaps the strongest influence has
been my study of Native American survival
techniques. Many of their ways coincide with
Native Australian attitudes to the land and if
you search hard enough the same attitudes
can be found in Europe. Of course, whenever
one speaks of the native peoples of a continent
there are bound to be generalisations. So
allowing for this fact, and the truth that even
nature-based cultures sometimes are guilty of
damaging their environment, the following is
a generalised perception of life common to
many hunter-gatherer communities around
the world both past and present.
*

*

*

The native American lived in a world of
meaning. Every tree, plant, animal, rock,
type of soil had its use. Through careful
observation of wildlife and weather patterns,
the natural cycle of a year might be divided
6

earlier soaking the available tinder. Many of
my old shirts and jackets have birch bark
pieces in the pockets that I gathered some
years ago now.
6. As far as you can, adapt your
expectations to a level which you can
meet given the circumstances: If you
cannot build a large comfortable shelter, be
satisfied with a small shelter. If there is not a
wide variety of wild foods available to you, be
grateful for the one type you can eat. Make
your psychology work for you. Be realisticâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
make yourself comfortable but do not overwork yourself to achieve this: it's no use
building a palatial shelter if you then collapse
with exhaustion inside it. But also do not
underestimate what you can achieve.
7. Only eat that which you have positively identified as edible: Do not trust
taste tests or in any way experiment with
unfamiliar plants or other materials for use as
food. The only real way to eat in safety and
confidence is to learn what can be eaten and
just how to prepare the food before you set
out. If this seems like hard work you should
not be eating wild foods.
8. Suspect all water as being infected:
Even the cleanest, coolest most alluring water
may well be contaminated; you cannot tell at
a glance. Boil or purify all waterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;check in
particular for signs of chemical pollution, this
may be concentrated by boiling!
9. The state of your fire is directly
proportionate to your level of morale:
Whatever your level of morale, if you can
light a fire it will be raised, but if you fail it
will plummet like a stone. If you are not
confident of your ability to light a fire in the
rain it may well be better to wait until the
rain stops before trying.
10. Whenever gathering your resources use natural selection as your guide,
this is the 'way' of nature: Leave the
strong, harvest the weak; when gathering
food you should always leave a proportion of
healthy plants, shellfish or whatever to
continue the line. By this lore stronger healthy
creatures will have the best chances for
survival and thereby proliferate in the future.
11. Take only memories leave only
footprints: Wherever possible minimise your
impact upon the natural environment, and
always aim to leave a campsite in a better
state than you found it.
12. Befit, able to swim and do not give

you can drown if you are careless. So, before
you set out there are certain things which you
should be familiar with. I call them the
Twelve Woodlores. Born out of experience
and observation they will keep you safe and
preserve the wilds for other adventurers.

The Twelve Woodlores
1. Don't challenge Nature, challenge
yourself: Occasionally you will hear people
talking about beating the elements by conquering a mountain or crossing an ice cap or
some such brave deed. The truth is that the
challenge is internal. Have you the skill? Can
you overcome your fear? No one can beat the
elements; all those who fail to heed the
warning signs or have the stupidity to press
ahead regardless, die. Instead of taking
unnecessary risks challenge yourself to know
when to turn back; learn to be more skilful;
above all challenge yourself to better
understand the way nature works.
2. If you're roughing it, you're doing
something wrong: Any fool can be uncomfortable, you gain no points for carrying a
heavy backpack, or for any deeds of selfimposed endurance. While you may train for
an expedition by roughing it, if there is a way
of making yourself more comfortable, without
the effort becoming a disadvantage, do so. In
emergency situations in particular, just a
small amount of hardship can prove to be
fatal once your level of morale has dropped.
3. Always give 100% effort the first
time: Whether shelter building, firelighting,
or whatever, if you don't set about it in the
right way the first time you are wasting your
energy and will simply have to start from
scratch again.
4. Aim to achieve maximum efficiency for the minimum effort: To work
you need energy; for energy you need food. In
the outdoors finding food is work. When you
gather your firewood for your fire do you
carry large armfuls to the log pile or do you
only fill your hands?
5. Never pass by an opportunity: This
is very important. As you travel along, should
you find suitable water, food or firelighting
materials, gather them as you pass since you
may not have the opportunity later when
they are needed. This is particularly true of
fire building materials where by the end of a
day's travel it may be raining or have rained

7

any two of these will bring about exposure,
but the worst possible situation is when all
three are present. Of the three external factors
the most dangerous is wind. Even on a warm
dry day the wind can cause you to feel cold;
this is known as wind chill. The stronger the
wind the colder you will feel; also wind acting
upon exposed flesh increases your rate of
dehydration. Wind chill can have dramatic
effects upon your body temperature, and
must never by underestimated. Excepting
really unusual circumstances, cold on its own
can be countered with insulative clothing.
Wet on its own such as a summer shower is of
little danger.
The internal catalysts: When any two,
or all three of the above factors are encountered you can reduce heat loss from your body
by donning protective clothing or finding
shelter. To maintain a constant temperature
you must keep your internal boiler stoked by
eating food. Carbohydrates are the foodstuff
most readily converted into energy by your
body, particularly sugars. If you fail to eat
food containing sufficient calories you will
hasten the onset of exposure. Lack of food is
an internal catalyst to exposure. There are
two more internal catalysts to defend against:
dehydration and exhaustion. Dehydration
impairs your ability to convert food into
energy and also impairs your ability to
distribute heat effectively throughout your
body. It can also adversely affect your powers
of reasoning and decision making. Especially
in cold weather, thirst is less obvious and
easily neglected.
By far the most dangerous internal catalyst
to exposure is exhaustion. This can be
prevented in three ways: firstly by maintaining a level of personal fitness above that
ordinarily required of your usual outdoor
activity, secondly by reducing dehydration
and eating sufficient calories. But thirdly and
most importantly of all by avoiding overstretching yourself and your energy reserves.
When walking in the hills try to maintain an
even rate of heart beat despite the terrain.
This will mean shortening your stride as you
move uphill which will seem slow but in the
long run you will be able to walk for longer
and further in this way. If you are faced with
appalling conditions do not rule out stopping
in shelter and waiting for better conditions
while you are still fit and able, many people
have collapsed and died in the British hills

in: Every single skill or technique which
follows is easier to learn and master if you are
fit. The outdoors is filled with risks and the
danger of unpredictable circumstances. Your
fitness may well be your last line of defence in
such circumstances.
*

*

*

These lores are the guide to successful
backwoodsmanship, but in writing them I
have assumed that you are able to carry out
basic first aid. If you cannot you should
attend a course run by an organised body
such as the Red Cross. Almost invariably
every outdoors man or woman will have
recourse to such knowledge at some time or
another. One aspect of first aid of particular
relevance in the outdoors is an understanding
of how hot and cold environments affect your
body, these are problems you will face on a
regular basis.
Exposure
Exposure, or as it is more correctly called
'mountain hypothermia', is the greatest
enemy of the outdoors enthusiast. Gaining a
working knowledge of what it is and how to
prevent it is the single most important first
step to enjoying outdoors pursuits in safety.
So before we study any other skills let us lay a
sound foundation.
Mountain hypothermia is a profound cooling of the human body in the mountain or
outdoors environment, such that the temperature of the body's vital core falls to a level
at which mental and physical abilities are
impaired. If allowed to worsen it can lead to
death. It is a problem which is particularly
associated with adverse weather conditions,
or people who are exhausted.
While anyone can become exposed those
most at risk are: the young, people from warm
climates especially those with dark skin,
people who are slim with little insulating
subcutaneous fat, the unfit, anyone who is
injured or in a state of shock, and people who
have low morale or are experiencing stress
such as in the case of becoming lost. The risk
from exposure is greatly reduced by the use of
outdoors clothing appropriate to the prevalent conditions.
The external factors: Cold, wet, and
wind are the three external factors which are
responsible for exposure. A combination of
8

weather was not good, with heavy driving
rain, strong winds and visibility down to only
a few yards. Just as I was about to stop to
figure out what exactly was odd about the
tracks we caught up with the person leaving
them. She was a lady of about middle age and
average build who was dragging her feet and
quite obviously developing exposure. She was
part of a rambling party a quarter of a mile
ahead. When we caught up with the rest of
the party we discovered the leader was totally
unaware that she had been left behind.
Treating exposure on the trail:
Treating exposure in the wilds is much more
difficult than taking steps to avoid it in the
first place. The treatment must firstly prevent
any further cooling of the vital core and then
gradually effect a rewarming. Place the
casualty out of the reach of the external
factors which have contributed to the exposure, perhaps in a tent well insulated from the
ground. Then place him into a sleeping bag.
If the casualty is wearing wet clothing it is
better to place a waterproof layer such as a
poly bag between him and the dry insulation
of the sleeping bag. The classic rewarming
process is to place a fit and well person in the
sleeping bag with the casualty as a heating
element; this is best effected through skin to
skin contact. If you are able to warm the tent
or shelter with a stove do so but make sure
that you allow adequate ventilation. If the
patient is capable of taking them, warm sweet
drinks can be administered.
The most important aspect of treating
exposure is that the rewarming must be
gradual, if you try to rewarm the patient too
quickly he can go into shock or become more
exposed. This happens because as your body
becomes cool the blood vessels which carry
warm blood to the extremities contract to
reduce heat loss from these areas, so that the
bulk of body warmth is retained in the vital
core. If these extremities are suddenly heated
by the use of hot water bottles or a fire, the
vessels expand allowing the blood flow to
resume normally. This sudden turning on of
the radiators drains the vital core of heat,
thereby worsening the problem.
A classic, more minor problem particularly
associated with backwoodsmanship in winter
conditions, is that while building a shelter the
backwoodsman may frequently stop to rewarm his hands by a fire and once they feel
warm again resume work. He is of course

while making a last dash for safety. The best
example to follow is the Canadian Eskimo,
who, if caught out in severe weather would
find the best shelter he could and sleep the
storm out, conserving his valuable reserves of
energy.
Symptoms of exposure: The symptoms
of exposure are anything but obvious. In fact
one of the greatest problems in diagnosing it,
is that those developing exposure are often
quiet and go unnoticed. They may also fail to
recognise any changes in themselves and
claim that they are fine, so if you are in a
leadership position it is important to watch
closely for signs of exposure. If you suspect a
member of your party is developing the
problem you might shorten your route or
make an impromptu stop in the lee of some
rocks for a warming brew and sugar snack.
This is always more preferable than confronting a party member with the suggestion he is
suffering from exposure.
Once exposure sets in, deterioration can be
very rapid and if untreated can lead to death.
After a period of worsening lethargy and
further loss of sensory faculties, shivering stops
and the body begins to close down in a last
effort to maintain life, the casualty slipping
from unconsciousness into a coma, which may
precede death. Even though these stages are
extremely dangerous, death is not the inevitable outcome. With the advantages of
modern medicine and first class rescue
services there is every reason not to give in.
Should the casualty's respiration stop, treat
them for exposure and carry out artificial
respiration for as long as you can, making
certain that you do not exhaust yourself and
become a second casualty.
Signs to watch for are complaints or signs of
coldness, tiring and lethargy, dragging feet,
slurred speech, bursts of energy, lack of
physical co-ordination, slipping and tripping,
failing vision and involuntary shivering. The
last two are serious warning signs which must
not go unheeded. If you walk with a regular
circle of friends it is a good idea to try and
adopt a steady calm walking pace by habit, in
this way any unusual behaviour signs will
show up more easily. A couple of years ago
while walking in the Peak district I came
across one of the most flagrant examples of
inadequate attention to exposure I have ever
seen. While ascending a ridge with some
friends I noticed some unusual tracks. The
9

increasing heat loss for the above reasons. The
best way to rewarm hands is to place them
under your armpits or in your crotch where
they will warm and regain sensation but not
to the excessive degree of fire warming. With
all of your rewarming efforts direct them at
the body core, chest and abdomen, leaving
the extremities till later.
While mentioning exposure we should also
look at frostbite. As mentioned above, when
extremities become chilled, the body reduces
heat loss from them by reducing the supply of
blood to these regions. Frostbite is the freezing
of tissue and is greatly hastened if you are
dehydrated, because your blood is more
viscous and cannot reach the extremities such
as finger tips and toes when the vessels
contract. Were you to be fully hydrated the
warm blood would reach these areas more
easily.

reducing pack loads. Before starting the day's
activities drink as much water as you can, and
make full use of the cooler temperature of the
early morning and late afternoon, stopping at
midday for a siesta.
The symptoms of heat exhaustion are
general discomfort in the head, headache and
nausea, a ruddy complexion, cramp and even
some disorientation. If allowed to worsen the
patient may develop heat stroke, stop sweating and eventually collapse. This is very
serious.
To treat heat exhaustion rest the patient in
some cooling shade, loosen his or her clothing,
apply wet towels to the limbs, and gradually
administer clean water to rehydrate them.
Under no circumstances give the patient salt.
*

*

*

So having equipped yourself with a firm
foundation for outdoors safety and a skeleton
of lores on which to hang the details of the â&#x20AC;˘
following skills, you can begin to develop your
expertise. The most important thing to
remember is that you will only learn the
following techniques by practise; practise and
experience is what counts. I cannot stress this
enough; the only way to learn is to have a go
yourself. Simply reading, watching or listening is not enough. To help you in your
endeavours I have included as many clear
illustrations or photographs of the techniques
as space will allow.

Heat Exhaustion
Heat exhaustion is caused by over exertion in
conditions where the body's heat cannot be
lost quickly enough, particularly hot and
humid conditions. In simple terms your body
becomes overheated and dehydrated, this is
frequently encountered in expeditions where
the members are. working at altitudes above
those of their normal environment, especially
when insufficient time has been allowed for
acclimatisation.
Heat exhaustion can easily be avoided by
wearing sensible light airy clothing and

10

Possibles
'Although I had lost my rifle and all my plunder, I felt quite
rich when I found my knife, flint and steel in my shot pouch.
These little fixin's make a man feel right peart when he is
three or four hundred miles from anybody or any place.'
(Hugh Glass according to Hall)
Equipment, kit, duffle, tackle, gearâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
whatever you call itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;has always been a
major topic of conversation between outdoors
folk. During the hey day of the fur traders,
rifles and other items which exchanged
between Indians and mountain men earned
powerful reputations and some such as
Hawken rifles and Hudson Bay point blankets
are still sought after today. So respected was
the judgement of these pioneers that every
aspiring mountain man would try to emulate
them.
Today things are somewhat different; reputations are not earned in the field so much as
in the media where the hype and publicity
surrounding the launch of new outdoors gear
matches that of any other product. A side
effect of this is that fewer and fewer manufacturing firms put practicality and durability
before a fashionable colour and styling. While
such clothing and equipment is suitable for
day hikers, the more adventurous outdoors
person who aims to explore the wilder regions
of the world often has to fall back on the
soldier-proof khaki and camouflage clothing
of the military. In most cases an unpopular
choice.
For the emerging outdoors enthusiast no
path has more hidden pitfalls and hurdles
than the one which leads to the outdoor
outfitters. Walk into any outdoor pursuits
shop and you are met with a sophisticated
sales pitch on the latest revolutionary mat-

erials, and a range of clothing supplied in
every colour of the spectrum and sporting the
price tag to match. Fortunately though, the
backwoodsman's needs are simple, and the
equipment he or she carries will form the
foundation of a kit that is suitable for most
other more specialist outdoor pursuits.
Before discussing clothing and equipment
though, I would point out that the most
important items any outdoors person can
carry are know-how and training. These are
much harder to lose than a knife or cagoule,
and will never be left behind. Train yourself
to be self reliant and able to improvise an
alternative for every piece of equipment or
clothing you carry. Use your knowledge
instead of high-tech gadgetry. So often I see
folks burdened down with all manner of
knick-knacks which are unnecessary ballast in
the backcountry. On one particular occasion
I met a backpacker who carried a survival kit
which weighed as much as his tent and
sleeping bag combined! He did not seem to
realise that his tent, sleeping bag, knife and
other conventional gear was the only survival
kit he needed. By simplifying your needs you
will lighten your load as well as your budget.
Like many people, when I first started
camping I couldn't afford either a sleeping
bag or a tent, and I was forced to improvise
cooking pots out of old biscuit tins and a tent
from polythene. I can clearly remember an
early hike made with a school friend who was
11

also adept at improvisation. Without sleeping
bags we spent the night around the campfire
warmed by the flames and above all enjoying
the sense of adventure and new-found freedom we had discovered. The advantage of a
sleeping bag was not obvious even then and it
was several years and many trips later that I
bought my first sleeping bag—a two-season
bag which on its first outing was pressed into
service in a winter bivouac with temperatures
as low as —27 degrees. Now I can look back
at my tenderfoot years and laugh at the first
time I sat on a sleeping mat and realised its
obvious advantage, or the snowy night I sited
my bivouac in the wrong place and was kept
awake by repeated facefuls of snow from the
swaying trees. But that is the essence of the
great outdoors: the excitement and wildness
of it all which make the hardships seem
unimportant. Today when I work with youth
groups where the youngsters are fully equipped from the start, I realise that it was in
those green novice days that I was tempered
to the trail and I wonder if they aren't missing
something.
The equipment list which follows is not
essential, it simply represents the gear you
might eventually gather. Of the students I
have taught it is often those who cannot
afford the fancy gear who learn bushcraft the
quickest and most thoroughly—and in doing
so gain in experience and confidence.

or sitting still and clothing which can be easily
vented to prevent you over heating when
working hard. As a general rule stick to
clothing which is uncomplicated with the
minimum fittings to go wrong. Always it is
best to work on the layer principle so that you
have maximum flexibility; three or four layers
of t-shirt, shirt, then woollen jumper jacket
will cater for many more situations than just a
heavy jumper and waterproof.
Underwear: As the layer of clothing
closest to your skin, it is most important that
your underwear is chosen carefully and fits
well; it can otherwise be the cause of some
nasty problems. Any clothing that is too tight
will not provide adequate insulation in cold
weather, but underwear in particular can
cause painful chafing; especially when damp
from perspiration. Comfortable underwear is
a priority when dressing for the outdoors, so,
choose carefully and if in doubt buy on the
large side. If you expect to be wading through
rivers you might substitute a swimming
costume, but this is generally too tight for
normal use.
In really cold weather you will need
underwear which covers as much of your skin
as possible with long sleeves and legs.
Thermal underwear though a little more
expensive should seriously be considered,
otherwise those made from synthetic materials, are cheap, long lasting and effective.
More expensive still are silk garments—but
they are more comfortable and some would
say warmer. Cotton can be worn in dry, cold
environments, but it loses its warmth when
wet, as it has the unfortunate habit of
absorbing moisture like blotting paper and
being reluctant to give it up; it is better to
avoid cotton underwear.
Do not wear warm underwear simply
because the weather is cold; consider whether
or not you really need to. Consider your
metabolism, your amount of body fat, and
how much strenuous activity you will be
doing. Make your choice of clothing to suit
the conditions you are to encounter.
Shirts and sweaters: Usually the second
layer of your clothing, the choice of material
falls between cotton, synthetics and wool.
Cotton shirts are best suited to hot climates,
although brushed cotton is an acceptable
second layer in cold dry conditions. Wool
shirts are an excellent choice for winter or as a
warm night garment on the summer trail.

Clothing
Your outdoors clothing is your first defence
against the elements; many disasters could be
averted if everyone who ventured into wild
places wore the correct clothing. So what is
the 'correct' clothing? In Britain this has
become rather stereotyped into cagoule,
breeches, walking boots and a day-sack
containing the obligatory cheese and pickle
sandwich. The answer to the question is
clothing which suits the prevailing conditions
while allowing full and free movement of the
whole body. Comfort is your instinctive guide
to correct clothing. Then it should be easily
adaptable to the widest range of situations
you will face. In hot conditions your clothing
should be light and airy, preferably with long
sleeves and trousers which will prevent
sunburn and reduce moisture loss. In cold
climates your clothing should enable you to
maintain an even body temperature. This
may mean extra layers for use when standing
12

Wool has long been a favourite material
amongst hunters and trappers, because of its
ability to remain warm when wet. In really
cold weather I prefer a roll neck sweater to a
shirt. Increasingly there are synthetic alternatives to wool which should be considered
as they are often as warm yet absorb less
moisture than wool, making them lighter
when wet and enabling them to dry far
quicker.
Jersey and thermal jacket: While the
oiled wool Jersey or Arran pullovers are still a
common sight in the hills of Britain they are
no longer the most popular. Now they must
compete with a host of synthetic alternatives,
most notably the fibre piles. The great
advantage of fibre pile is its ability to cope
with wet conditions. It is also very hard
wearing; I have a Helly Hansen pile pullover
which is now seven years old and still in
constant use. Very often this pullover is the
outer layer of my clothing; had it been wool,
it would long ago have been pulled to pieces
by snagging branches and thorns. However
wool still remains a favourite material which
is functional and aesthetically pleasing; it is
also less costly to the environment to produce.
Thermal jackets are best suited to extreme
cold and situations where you may be
standing around for long periods. For the
outdoorsman or woman the weight of such a
garment would be more usually better spent
on several independent layers of insulative
clothing. In this way you can tailor the
insulation of your clothing far more closely to
your actual needs.
Trousers: Trousers are a most essential
article of clothing for many reasons. They
give protection from the ravages of coarse
foliage and biting insects as well as providing
essential warmth in cold weather and shade in
hot. They take a constant pounding from
being in constant movement as well as from
sitting down on the ground, and unlike other
layers of clothing which come off and on with
the changing weather, trousers are expected
to do their job regardless. Yet for all this they
remain the article of clothing that is least well
served by most clothing manufacturers.
What is needed are trousers that are
lightweight, which dry fast when wet, while
remaining strong, are resistant to abrasion
and do not melt with the merest spark from a
campfire. They should also provide adequate
resistance to wind. As yet I have only found a

few varieties of polycotton trousers to meet
these demands, the best of which are the
lightweight trousers used by the British Army.
Windproof jackets: To stay warm you
must prevent the loss of body heat. This is best
achieved by using layers of insulative clothing
to trap layers of insulative air. To take full
advantage of such layers you must prevent
them moving or being replaced by cold air.
This is where a windproof shell to your
clothing is essential. This can either be a
specific garment such as a ventile or buckskin
jacket or can be a waterproof cagoule.
Socks and gloves: The hardest parts of
your body to keep warm are the extremities
which are farthest from your heartâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
especially your feet. Always make certain you
have plenty of spare pairs of socks. 80% wool,
20% nylon mixes are the best. To avoid
blisters check the socks for any fluff balls or
loose threads which may rub sore spots.
Change your socks when they become damp
from perspiration. You should always have
dry socks to wear at the end of the day. Some
people prefer two pairs of thinner socks to one
thicker pair.
Because you can warm your hands under
your armpits or between your thighs, gloves
are slightly less essential. However they
should be of either wool or pile and preferably
a mitten design. Some excellent versions are
currently available which have waterproof
outers with changeable inners. In cold, damp
conditions carry two pairs.
Footwear: This has been a point of
contention for many years. In general I would
advise you to choose a quality pair of walking
boots with a sole that allows the fitting of a
waterproof gaiter. In this way you are
equipped for the mountains and bad weather
conditions. Make certain you choose the type
of boot which has a flexible sole. It will take
some time to wear the boot in so never buy
boots just prior to an expedition.
My own preference in footwear is for good
quality fell running shoes. These are light and
comfortable, less tiring to use than boots and
enable me to remain nimble. They are the
closest approximation to moccasins that I can
find, but with the added advantage of a good
gripping sole. In damp weather they are not
as waterproof as boots, though they do dry
quicker; and I can carry two pairs with
several changes of socks and still they weigh
less than boots. However in really damp
13

conditions or winter mountain conditions I
resort to good boots. You must make your
own decision, though if in doubt, don't choose
expensive boots until you have the experience
to decide for yourself.
Head gear: You will be surprised at just
how much warmth your body loses from your
head. Always carry a hat in cold weather; the
most versatile of these is a woollen balaclava
which can be worn either rolled up as a
normal hat or rolled down to give almost total
cover to your head if the weather really turns
cold. In hot humid conditions a bush hat will
provide protection from sun and biting
insects.
Waterproofs: It is in the field of waterproof clothing that modern materials really
strike gold. In recent years there has been the
development of breathable fabrics which are
totally waterproof yet which allow perspiration to escape, meaning you stay drier inside.
Most notable of these is Gore-tex which
despite its high price is invaluable. To help
the consumer this fabric is only available to
manufacturing firms that meet the Gore-tex
manufacturing standards such as Berghaus.
*

*

using a knife for long periods you will
probably buy several before you finally find
that which suits you best. If you are in doubt
ask a friend or expert to explain their choice
and show you the knives they prefer to use;
their advice and experience will be invaluable.
My own search for a practical knife led me
to many different makes of knife, even to
making and designing my own. There are
many different factors to consider when
choosing your knife, all of which will have a
bearing on its field performance. The following are the key criteria of choice.
Stainless or carbon steel: The difference between carbon and stainless steel
knives is more than just that stainless does not
rust whereas carbon steel does. Carbon steel is
softer than stainless which means that it is
easier to sharpen but will not hold its edge as
long (although there are now some high
carbon steels which are hard and virtually
rust proof). In general you are more likely to
buy a good knife made of carbon steel than
stainless; the knife market is flooded with
cheap stainless steels which do not take a
sharp edge. Stainless is however a more
hygienic steel which will resist corrosion
under the worst conditions; if you can find a
suitable knife made from a high quality
surgical or cutlery steel you have the most
perfect compromise. These steels, while not
cheap, will take a razor edge and hold it
through thick and thin. With experience you
should be able to look at a knife blade and
judge the properties by the colour of the steel;
a good stainless steel tends to be a blue grey
while cheap steel such as that used in many
diving knives is more a yellow grey.
Temper: When a blade is manufactured
it is hardened by heat and then tempered
which is a lowering of the hardness to prevent
brittleness. If a blade is soft tempered it will
not hold an edge but will resist chipping. A
blade which is hard tempered will take a very
sharp edge and hold it but will become brittle
and prone to chipping.
For a woodsman's knife you need a blade
which is tempered with the best of both
qualitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;soft enough to resist chipping and
shattering yet hard enough to take and hold
an edge. The hardness of the steel is a part of
the manufacture process of modern knives
which can be precisely controlled and is
quantified in either a Rockwell or Vickers

*

Cutting tools
There is no tool more useful in the backcountry than a knife; it will enable you to construct
and improvise from local materials with swift
and efficient ease. At a pinch any knife will
do, but the seasoned woodsman learns to be
very particular about his choice of knife. The
size, weight and design of a knife are the vital
factors, always assuming that it is made of
suitable material. For the full range of jobs it
will be put to, no one knife is perfect for
everything. For this reason you should ideally
carry two or more knives; usually a small
whittling knife and a larger camp knife. I use
a range of knives for different purposes: if I am
backpacking I am most likely to take a small
home-made carbon steel sheath knife,
whereas if I am travelling further afield I will
carry my large knife plus a small folding knife.
Knives do not come cheaply these days and
there is much controversy surrounding their
use. In general, people underestimate the size
and strength of knife they need. Your choice
of knife will almost certainly be a matter of
personal preference and if you are unused to
14

A good cutting tool is essential for any outdoors person,
the wilder the country you explore the more important it
becomes. The rule is always to buy well the first time.
1 Light tomahawk made by Estwing. 2 Crooked knife,
made by the author to a native American design; a
combination draw knife and gouge. 3 Folding bush saw
for cutting logs or even snow blocks, by Sandvic. 4 A
small general purpose knife made by the author. 5 The
Wilkinson Sword survival knife, designed by the author
to combine the ideals of a woodsman's knife with the
requirements of an expeditioner. 6 The Wilkinson Sword
Type 'D' knife adapted by the author, an alternative for
those who prefer carbon steel to stainless.

hardness rating. A reputable manufacturer
should be able to give you the specifications of
their blades on request; although every steel
has its own properties, a hardness rating
between 55 and 58 Rockwell is about the
average for a good woodsman's knife,
although 55 or below (i.e. softer) might also
be acceptable. Unfortunately many manufacturers over-temper their blades to gain good
edge retention; these are actually dangerous
as they can shatter or break suddenly when
under leverage.
If, as I do, you carry a small and a large
knife, have the small knife of a higher temper
and use your larger knife for prising and
levering.

Design: Your large knife should be of a
size you can easily carry. Machette and
two-foot blades are common features on
survival courses but are seldom found in
genuine use outside of tropical climates; your
aim is to carry a complementary system of
cutting tools. A survival knife is a generalpurpose knife which should be equally at
home either hammering in tent pegs or doing
fine carving. It needs therefore to span a
range of tools in function, giving you maximum mechanical advantage for slashing and
chopping, while remaining strong enough to
be used as a frue for splitting. Yet it must also
be of a size convenient to carry on a belt or in
a daysack. The size I prefer for this style of
15

knife is overall about 310mm in length with a
blade 6mm thick and varying in width
according to a shape which is efficient for
cutting. The blade and handle should be all of
one piece of metal, the handle remaining
strong throughout, not narrowing at the
guard as many fine skinning knives do. A
guard is not essential but is a good idea if you
are not used to using a knife extensively. The
guard needs only to prevent your fingers
slipping onto the edge itself. Saw backs,
hollow handles and other gizmos are not
essential but provided they do not weaken or
hamper the knife I would rather have them
than not; they often can prove very useful in
unusual situations.
The grip should not be metal but made of a
user-friendly material and oval shaped to
accommodate your grasp. It is sometimes
necessary to build up or carve down a grip to
fit your hand. I prefer not to wear a lanyard
with a knife of the above dimensions; it should
not be so heavy as to pull loose from your
hand, and if it does you are either not using it
correctly or it does not fit your hand properly.
If you decide though that you prefer to use a
lanyard, fit it so that the blade will not swing
towards you if you lose your grasp.
Small folding knives should have a blade
about three inches long, my own favourite for
many years being the Opinel N07 which can
be used to produce sparks for firelighting (see
Chapter Four). Choose a rugged knife which
will take rough use (not a gadget knife); one
good blade is all that you need. If you choose
a knife with too long a blade you will be
tempted to lever with it; this is not good for
any hinged blade.
Maintenance and sharpening: A good
knife becomes a part of your hand enabling
you to produce the finest wood carvings. It
deserves the best care and attention you can
give it. Stainless steel blades are sterile,
mechanical and efficient requiring only
sharpening but were it not for their practical
use I would never tolerate their presence in
my rucksack. A carbon steel blade on the
otherhand sings as it cuts; it tarnishes in
response to sap and weather, always changing
its appearance, demanding attention to be
lavished upon it. In time such blades acquire
a stain or patina which gives them some
protection from the elements but care must
always be taken to clean the blade and hone
the edge.

Once your knife is sharp, keep it so by regular honing. I
carry a set of two ceramic sharpening rods (coarse and
smooth) in a hand-made holder.

Two things are needed to sharpen your
knives: a large Arkansas or Washita sharpening stone for serious base camp sharpening
and a set of coarse and fine ceramic rods for
use in the field. If you keep your edge
constantly honedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which may mean stopping
to re-hone it in mid jobâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you will have few
problems maintaining the edge over long
periods away from a sharpening stone. In the
worst circumstances you can use a smooth
boulder from a river bed as a hone.
The sharpening stone should be used to
maintain the correct angle of edge. To be
used most efficiently they must be lubricated
to prevent metal particles clogging the pores.
Any stone you expect or intend to carry on
the trail should only be lubricated with spittle
or water. But stones which you know will
remain in the work shop, can be used with
oilâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;my preference is to use a fifty-fifty
mixture of motor oil and methylated spirits.
Worked together into an emulsion on the
stone this keeps the stone clean and yet allows
it to bite into the steel.

The possibles bag: Sometimes called a ditty
bag, the possibles bag contains those vital bits
and pieces of equipment which make life
possible! You might call this the backwoodsman's survival kit. There are no hard and fast
rules about what this should contain; the
contents will probably change from season to
season and trip to trip. But the following are
the items which seem to live permanently in
my possibles bag, in addition to the small
16

matchesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the idea being that you can lift the
matches out and strike them inside the
protection of the outer case which is lined
with a striker paper. I find this rather fussy
and have modified my match safe by fixing a
piece of coarse wet-and-dry paper to the
underside of the inner case; this is a more
reliable striker but will only work with
strike-anywhere matches.
Contain the
matches in your match safe so that the heads
are down and you will not impart moisture to
the heads when you remove a match for use.
It is also a good idea to carry an artificial flint
bar in your match safe as a back up. This can
be used on the tinders described in chapter
four. On a major trip I will carry a backup
supply of matches in another match safe and
in another part of my duffle.
Insect repellent: Usually only a small bottle of
very strong repellent. In general I try to avoid
using this if at all possible but there comes a
time in every outdoorsman's experience when
the mosquitos become too much and begin to
interfere with the enjoyment of a canoe trip or
camp-out. Choose repellent which contains

Compass with a whistle attached: A compass is

an essential piece of navigational equipment
which will give you the freedom needed to
strike safely off trail in the backcountry
without losing your way. An important part
of your outdoors know-how is almost totally
intangible; it is the store of experiences you
gain by moving about confidently off trail,
amongst the shier animals. The whistle is the
simplest way to attract attention and has
saved the lives of many outdoors people. The
international emergency signal is six blasts in
quick succession with a minute gap. Along
with these navigational aids I often carry a
chinagraph pencil so that I can make notes
and annotations to my route on a covered
map or map case.
Matches: Take strike-anywhere friction
(red) matches. To keep them safe and dry
from the elements I use a match safe. This is a
small box with screw lid which is waterproof.
The design I prefer is made of alloy and has a
smaller box inside which actually holds the
17

travels in my possibles bag is a reel of strong
twine which is an essential part of any outfit. I
prefer to carry a twine made from natural
fibres as this will decay swiftly if accidently
left behind in the 'bush'. But if you would
rather carry the strongest, use Dacron seafishing line.
Torch: A mini maglite torch with fresh
batteries is the last perennial traveller in my
outfit. These torches are one of the few pieces
of modern equipment which are earning a
reputation the old way by being simply the
favourite amongst professionals.
Other items: If I am travelling in the mountains I will usually augment this equipment
with a large survival bag, some strong nylon
cord, a slow-burning candle and a head torch
with spare batteries.
Other items you might consider carrying
are a fishing kit, emergency flares or smoke
distress signals.

95% Diuethylmetatoluamide and keep it well
away from your compass or any perspex or
plastic as it is a solvent and will make these
materials opaque if it comes into contact with
them.
Emergency medical kit: Designed to fit into

the back pocket of a pair of jeans, this is more
than a first-aid kit and contains prescription
drugs tailored to my specific backcountry
needs. This kit has grown from experience.
For years I carried a comprehensive first aid
kit in my rucksack but on one occasion I had
left base camp and hiked deep into a forest
following a deer trail taking as was usual, only
my knife, waterbottle and metal cup. Having
come to a suitable site I stopped to brew a
herbal tea and set about shaping a bow drill
to light the fire. It was a hot day and there
were a lot of horse flies buzzing around. Just
as I was making some hefty chops to shape the
hearth, my eye was momentarily distracted
by a fly and the knife cut flesh instead of
wood. That was as close as I have ever come
to removing a digit. Somehow my reflexes
stopped the blade at the bone which could be
clearly seen in the cut which began to well
with blood. Wrapping the cut tightly with my
bandana I remembered that I had some
powdered yarrow in the bottom of my
day-sack which helped staunch the bleeding
and prevent infection (see Chapter Six). The
journey back to camp was much longer than
the journey out, and gave me plenty of time to
consider the stupidity of carrying my knife
and no first aid kit. In some of the regions I
have travelled alone, this relatively minor
wound could well have proven fatal. The kit I
now carry is deliberately small enough to not
be a burden and yet is sophisticated enough to
provide practical aid for serious injuries
assuming that bandages can be improvised.
Make certain you learn from my mistake
and carry a small-cuts kit at the very least
whenever you carry your knife, for it is a
certainty that if you use a knife, no matter
how careful you are, you will eventually cut
yourself. As your experience grows you will
come to know your medical needs very well
and might then consider consulting your
doctor about upgrading your first-aid kit, to
cope with those situations when you are three
or four days away from assistance. Along with
the medical kit there should be room in your
possibles bag for a three-inch crepe bandage.
Twine: Another item which commonly

Water Bottle
Without water you cannot live for more than
a few days; while water is heavy to carry you
should always carry some with you. There are
many good designs of water bottle available.
Military waterbottles are excellent for
woodcraft purposes. It is better to opt for a
large rather than a small bottle, my own
preference being for a water bag, or best of all
a U.S. Army 2-quart canteen.
If your canteen comes in a cover, include a
Millbank bag for filtering sediment out of
muddy water. Purification tablets can also be
carried in the cover, some of which are
equipped with a special pocket for this
purpose.
Sleeping Bag and Blanket
This is one of the most important items of
outdoors equipment you will ever buy. Your
sleeping bag should give you countless nights
of silent slumber on the trail. But buying a
sleeping bag today can be a complicated
business. Each year sees the announcement of
a new design, or super-warm synthetic filling.
Without going into too great detail, here are
some practical tips to guide you in your
choice. When it actually comes to making
your decision ask around amongst dealers and
manufacturers outlining to them the sort of
use your bag will be put to. Don't skimp on
this item of equipment; a good night's sleep is
worth its weight in gold. Sleeping bags come
18

in a variety of fillings but very basically they
can be broken down into three categories
Down-filled
bags: These
are
the
warmest bags weight for weight and have
captured the hearts of many mountaineers.
They are best suited to dry cold conditions or
to campers who always use a tent with a
sewn-in ground sheet. If they become damp
they lose their loft (the ability of the filling to
trap air) and with it their insulative properties. Even in the driest, coldest conditions
this can happen if the user does not air his bag
thoroughly each day to dry out the moisture
given off by the human body. Used for what
they are intended, these bags are excellent,
and can be used for general purpose use as
well -so long as you keep them dry. Their
greatest drawback is their price tag which in
the case of the finest bags can reach four
figures.
Bags with synthetic fillings: These arc
heavier warmth for warmth than the natural
filling bags. But in recent years they have
swamped the market because they are a
comparatively low price and have the marketing advantage of not losing as much loft
when wet so should provide better insulation
in damp conditions. This does not however
mean that it does not matter if the bags
become wet. Any sleeping bag which becomes
damp will lose much of its insulative properties. These fillings in my experience do not
last as well as natural filled bags.
Fibre-pile bags: These are excellent in
damp conditions and for mountain rescue use
as they conform well to the user's body,
trapping air efficiently. They are also very
comfortable to use, as well as being hard
wearing, but their drawback is that they are
heavy and bulky. Fibre pile liners designed to
upgrade a sleeping bag are very useful.
Most manufacturers specify what temperatures their bags are designed to be used
in. This is most usually in the form of a season
rating: 1 season being designed for summer
use and 4 or 5 seasons being designed for the
coldest conditions. For most practical
situations a 3 to 4 season bag is the best. If it
has a full length zip fitted even better, as you
can then vent it to cool off in warmer
conditions.
The shape of the bag and the way it is
constructed also have a large bearing on
performance. Although most modern manufacturers of quality sleeping bags use good

construction techniques, what you end up
with will depend more or less upon what you
have paid.
For woodcraft use you will need a versatile
bag. Choose one which has a 3-4 season
rating and a full length zip. A synthetic filling
is the most suitable for bivouac use and very
importantly make sure your bag is mummy
shaped with a cowl hood and boxed foot.
When you have searched through the brochures and found a selection of bags go and
try them out in the shop. Make absolutely
certain that the bag is big enough for you,
allowing adequate shoulder and knee room.
Lastly try to choose a bag with a comfortable
lining. My favourite bag which should have
been replaced ages ago, survives because it
has a red polycotton liner which is really
inviting and comfy. The previous bag had a
white nylon lining which wore better, but was
not so inviting or comfortable against the
skin. Remember at the end of the day you are
buying a good night's sleep. (See Chapter
Three for natural beds.)
Sleeping Mats
Despite having the warmest sleeping bag, you
will be cold without insulation between you
and the ground. A sleeping bag works by
trapping an insulative layer of air but where
you lay, it is compressed and cannot provide
insulation. For this reason a sleeping mat of
some sort is even more important than a
sleeping bag. Several times I have slept in
relative comfort with only a thermarest
beneath me and a cagoule for a blanket.
Any sleeping mat will do although some are
better than others. Closed-cell mats are warm
but somewhat uncomfortable. They are very
strong and long lasting but difficult to pack.
Their chief advantage is that they are very
cheap. Air beds are comfort personified but
need a jersey or some similar garment placed
on top of them to prevent your heat being
carried away down the channels between the
segments. They are also heavy and prone to
puncture.
But without any doubt the best bed is the
thermarest which combines the warmth of a
foam mattress with the comfort of an air bed,
These beds are not cheap but more than any
other item, will contribute to your beauty
sleep, I have used a standard three-quarter
length version for many years, camping on
rock, forest floors littered with thorns, and in
19

cactus-filled deserts without ever developing a
puncture. After ten minutes on the mat it
warms you like an electric underblanket and
best of all, when packed up, will easily fit
inside your rucksack. (See Chapter Three for
natural sleeping mats.)

But a well-chosen rucksack will enable you to
carry the load further and for longer by
allowing you to maintain a good body
posture. In general you should be looking for
a reputable make of rucksack which is
designed to carry the majority of your load at
or slightly above shoulder height. Avoid the
old-fashioned rucksack which is wider at the
bottom than top.
Make certain that the rucksack is fitted
with a padded waistbelt which is designed to
transmit some of the load to your hips.
Women must choose their rucksacks particularly carefully as most sacks on the market are
designed around male anatomy. Despite
manufacturers' claims, depending on the
shape of your back, one make of rucksack may
fit you better than another. Try them on and
if possible ask shop assistants to load them
with genuine gear for weight rather than
featherweight padding for bulk. The best way
to find a sack which suits you though is to try
or borrow a friend's to gain some idea of fit
and how design features work. Some of the
better-known manufacturers produce sacks in
different back lengths. Check with them how
to measure your back to discover what size
you need. Be very wary of over enthusiastic
shop assistants; a wrongly fitting rucksack
could very easily damage your back.
Choose a large capacity sack which has
compression straps that allow you to reduce
the sack's volume when you are carrying
average loads. The large size is not intended
for weight but to accommodate the bulk of
winter insulative clothing. Choose a sack
which has an internal frame which will
conform to the shape of your back; this is
more comfortable and convenient than an
external frame. Lastly, more by personal
preference than practical import, choose a
simple sack without too many straps and
buckles.

Shelter
For a light shelter the tarp or army poncho is
the most versatile. These can be easily erected
as fly sheets in a variety of ways using
improvised pegs and some nylon cordage.
They are strong and cheap. In recent years
Gore-tex bivvi bags have become popular as
they simply fit over your sleeping bag but
they are very expensive for what they are.
Tents are more specialised shelters which
like sleeping bags must be carefully chosen to
meet your needs. Take specialist and detailed
advice before investing in such a long-term
shelter. (See Chapter Three for natural
shelters.)
Cookware
It is in the camp kitchen that stainless steel
really wins out over all of the rest. While you
can improvise billy cans from catering-sized
tin cans nothing really equals the convenience
of well-designed cooking pots. Round are best
for they are easily cleaned, cook food evenly
and fit well over both fires and hike stoves
alike. Choose your pans to have lids and
all-metal fittings if they are to be used on the
campfire. If you intend to carry only one pan
carry a large one rather than a small one as
this is more practicalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially in regions
where you have to boil all of your drinking
and washing water.
For most of your needs one large pan and a
cup will suffice adding an extra pan for up to
three people. With your cookset (which
should be contained in a stuff sack) carry a
stainless steel spoon and fork, and any
condiments you prefer to use (see Chapter
Ten).

In General
While good outdoors equipment will enhance
your enjoyment of the outdoors it is all too
easy to become preoccupied with it. Equipment does not make you a better outdoorsman or woman; that comes from skill,
patience, enthusiasm and practise. For that
reason I have deliberately curbed my discussion with regards to gear.

Rucksacks
To carry all of this gear you will need a
rucksack of a suitable design. Here again
modern technology has revolutionised matters and made the choice a matter of
complication. Whatever rucksack you buy
and whatever the manufacturers claim, it is
not going to make your burden any lighter.

20

Shelter and Protection
'When your days of travelling are over, and it is your turn to
remember the adventures and excitements of the past, it is by
your former campsites that your memories will take their
bearings. So take my advice and choose your campsite well
when setting up for the night, for in truth you are setting a
stage for your memories.'
(Unknown traveller)

labour. For this reason it is essential that you
know how to go about the task in as efficient a
way as possible. The key to a good shelter is
practical planning and organisation. Any
shelter must provide two things; firstly protection from the prevailing elements and secondly the comfort of a good night's sleep. At the
same time it must not be so ambitious as to
drain you of precious energy reserves. Strive
to achieve maximum efficiency for minimum
effort.
Having been a witness to shelter building
by widely varying individuals and groups of
individuals I have come to realise that there
are essentially four 'internal' factors which
will determine how successful your shelter
building efforts will be:
1. Attitude: In a wilderness situation you
will find life less stressful if you are able to
adapt your attitude and aspirations to your
immediate physical needs. In this way comfort becomes a relative consideration. The
most successful backwoods men and women
are those who make the most of their
circumstances and optimistically anticipate
an improvement.
2. Brains: Your greatest asset in life is
your ability to conceive an idea before you set
to work. Yet all too often shelters show little
or no planning in their construction. When I
set about building a shelter, at least 80% of

Occasionally people are lured far from their
campsite by the hypnotic meander of a brook
or the glimpse of a spire-like peak waiting to
be climbed; the halfway point of the day's
travel is passed unnoticed, and a return to
camp before nightfall impossible. For the
tenderfoot such a moment can be frightening;
in the silence of the forest the shadows
lengthen and the obscuring trees can seem to
crowd threateningly, causing him to panic.
For the experienced outdoorsman, however,
such a moment is the perfect excuse for a
memorable wilderness adventure, perhaps a
moonlit hike back to camp or an impromptu
campout.
Secure in the knowledge of his practised
skills, the experienced backwoodsman will
select his building needs from the natural
materials which surround him and will
calmly construct his home for the night. By
the time the dark blanket of night has fallen,
he will have settled down by the warmth of
his campfire and be listening to the nightshift
going about their dark business, until with a
hearty yawn he falls victim to the sweet
aroma of his leaf bed.
The ability to find or provide yourself with
shelter is a fundamental step towards being at
home in the outdoors. In most situations this
is not a difficult task to achieve, but it nearly
always requires the investment of physical
21

the process is planning: choosing the shelter
location, carefully scrutinizing the lie of the
land, searching for a site which might provide
a beneficial feature to include in the shelter
design and visualising the shelter in situ at
every stage of construction so that by the time
I start to gather the building materials I know
precisely what I am looking for. As the shelter
is erected I remain flexible and will make
alterations to my original plan as I gain a
better understanding of the building materials I am employing.
3. Confidence: Without any doubt,
anyone who has been taught and practised
shelter building begins with a great advantage. Experienced people, even when faced
with a totally alien environment will set about
the task of building a shelter with a self
assurance which not only totally removes the
fear of failure but reduces it to a series of
practical problems. The advantage of practise
cannot be overstressed in shelter building.
4. Determination: All too often the inexperienced will spend too long building the
structure, leaving little or no time before
nightfall to insulate it or gather wood for a
fire. The wise woodsman or woman works
hard to finish their shelter early so that he
enjoys a warm night, insulated from the cold.
While as a general rule you should work at a
leisurely pace in the outdoors this does not
hold true for shelter building. If you do not
achieve a warm, comfortable night's sleep
your morale is greatly reduced and the next
morning, instead of getting on with other
important tasks you must spend valuable
foraging time improving your shelter. The
quicker you complete and refine your shelter
the quicker you are going to adapt to your
new environment.

you from? Can you light a fire? Do you have a
sleeping bag?
The above questions will help you establish
your aim, identify your resources and
highlight any difficulties. Shelters fall into two
categories: those that have to be built and
natural shelters you can 'borrow'. Each type
of shelter has its use so never rule one out
without careful evaluation of its potential.
Whilst most people might, given a choice, opt
for a natural shelter, in my experience they
often require as much effort to make habitable as a tailor-made shelter built from scratch.
A middle course is to look for an easily
adapted natural feature.
If you find yourself caught without shelter
make every effort to find terrain which will
provide you with plenty of shelter-building
materials; ideally woodland. This cannot be
overstressed. While it may take you an hour
to walk back to where you last saw a suitable
site, that time will soon be regained in the
time you will save building your shelter.
Natural Shelters
Caves: Theses are the most obvious form of
natural shelter; after all they provided early
man with shelter from weather and wild
animals for many thousands of years. But not
all caves are suitable for habitationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they are
frequently damp and drafty and are always
dark. If you were able to travel back in time
to observe Stone Age cave communities you
would find the scene a smelly and smoky one
with animal bones and fat being burned to
provide light and warmth. Caves in many
regions of the world are associated with evil
and bad luck and this in some cases can be
linked to the large populations of bats which
inhabit some caves: a fungus on the guano of
bats, if breathed in, can lead to a very serious
illness called Histoplasmosis which has often
proved fatal. There is also evidence of the
disease occuring in association with large bird
populations. Some caves of course will provide excellent shelter but they are in my
experience few and far between.
Cliff overhangs: These are the next best
thing to a cave and in many parts of the world
are still in use as homes. Very often walls are
built under the overhang to reduce drafts and
give a sense of cosiness. Nearly always these
shelters are found on south-facing cliffs which
make best advantage of the sunlight and local

What Type of Shelter?
There is an unlimited number of shelter
designs at your disposal for a wide variety of
situations and environments. So how do you
choose which suits you best? The answer is
usually decided for you by the circumstances.
Is your shelter for an emergency? Are you
injured? Are you alone? Is your shelter an
overnight shelter or a long-term shelter?
What building materials do you have at your
disposal? How much daylight do you have
left? What useful materials do you have with
you that could be incorporated in the
construction? What must the shelter protect
22

even in quite heavy downpours your general
living space will be spared from the discomfort of mud and you will be able to go about
your chores without the effort of enlarging
your shelter or building a porch.
Siting: The siting of your shelter will be
crucial to its success and to the amount of
labour it will require to construct. Until you
develop an experienced eye for just the right
location take your time to select it carefully.
You are looking for a compromise: a site
which is not too far from water yet not so close
as to bring you within striking distance of
biting insects. Also check that you are not too
near to wasp or hornet nests. The site should
provide you with plenty of easily available
materials and fuel for your fire.
Check that it is not on the runs of any
dangerous animals and that it is not overhung
by any dead branches. Consider whether you
are building in an area full of poison ivy or
whether you risk a flash flood for example in
the base of a canyon. A few minutes spent in
this way can save you many hours of
discomfort.

winds. In New Mexico the cliff faces were so
soft that the Anasazi inhabitants were able to
carve homes out of the rock itself, almost
invariably on the sunny side of the Mesas. If
you find a cliff overhang which you think will
make a good home for the night feel the
ground at its base for dampness. This will tell
you whether or not the overhang is a good
rain shelter. You will be able to reduce chilly
drafts by constructing low walls at ninety
degress to the cliff at either end of your
sleeping area. For insulation and further
comfort you can build a sleeping mattress and
blanket (see Beds).
Arbors: These will usually provide cool
shade from the bright sun but can also on
occasion provide a waterproof canopy.
Many's the time I have taken refuge from a
heavy downpour inside the dry shade of an
old holly tree and enjoyed the bonus of
finding in the fallen leaves and branches at
the tree base, the fixings of a small fire,
enough to warm a drink with. Usually
evergreen trees such as yew provide the best
rain cover. While arbors provide excellent
short-term shelter they are not suited to
longer stays, although you might construct a
more permanent structure under the protection of an arbor. In this way you will find that

Man-Made Shelters
Lean-tos: Fallen trees, are often quoted as
being the ideal foundation for a bivouac,

Lean-tos are the simplest of the survival shelters and in many cases are the most practical to build. Most, however, require
a fire to keep the occupant warm. A tip: if you are relying upon a primitive firelighting technique, light your fire before you
expend precious energy building your shelter.

23

A classic shelter design, the fallen tree lean-to is very strong, weather proof and requires no cordage in its manufacture. It
is one of the few lean-tos not specifically designed to incorporate a fire.

24

although they are used in this way far less
than is suggested. This is because they pose
several problems. To construct a weatherproof lean-to against a fallen tree, the roof in
most cases needs to extend beyond the apex of
the bole's camber to prevent rain from
running off into the living space. Looked at
another way this means that part of your
living space is taken up by the tree! However
there are occasions when such a shelter is the
obvious option-- especially when cordage is
unavailable and you are short of daylight.
Choose your tree as carefully as you can, it
needs to be high enough to provide your roof
with an adequate run off angle but not too
steep. If you choose a high apex you will have
considerable difficulty draft proofing the ends
of the lean-to which is a very important factor
in the success of this shelter. Fallen trees tend
to create channels for wind and drafts to
follow. If you do not block off these drafts you
will not only experience a considerable loss in
insulation but of sleep as well. The construction technique you employ will depend upon
the building materials you have available, the
easiest method is to construct your roof from

tightly spaced struts leaning against the tree
or suitably shaped rock. This way you need
not employ any cordage. To weather-proof
the roof use either leafmould piled thick, or
overlapping birch bark, cedar bark, paper
bark, or basswood bark slabs or strips. Only
backcountry areas can provide suitable bark,
and in fact I find the more widely available
leafmould is a much better insulator anyway.
In the deep coniferous forests you can use
evergreen boughs although they work better
if hooked onto a grid type roof frame.
Once you have finished your roof put in
your bedding (see Beds). With a roof over
your head and a cosy nest to curl up in you
can make your refinements. Block off all the
drafts you can find, I usually erect closefitting walls at either end of the shelter filling
any gaps with leafmould, moss, or adobe
(mud or clay mixed with grass or a similar
fibrous material). If you are going to use this
shelter for several days (especially in cold
weather) you can even consider fitting an
adobe fireplace with a hollow log for a
chimney. Fit this at one end of the lean-to. An
alternative roofing material which works well

The open-fronted lean-to is quickly and easily constructed and can be used in cold weather although it relies for its warmth
on a reflecting fire at the entrance and walls at both ends to exclude draughts.

25

ridge pole raised. In this way you will halve
the amount of roofing materials needed as
well as improving the warmth.
If you are not alone it is better to build one
of these shelters for each person so that the fire
is contained between them. In this way each
person receives warmth from their fire along
the whole length of their body, the opposing
shelter acting as the reflector for the fire. The
logical extension of this process is to construct
a completely circular shelter for a group.
The group lean-to is the five-star-hotel of
shelters. The secret is to keep it small with a
maximum of seven occupants, any more than
this and the fire must be enlarged to
uneconomic proportions. With careful construction you should not need to use any
cordage in its construction as every upright
and ridge pole supports every other. I once
used this shelter with a mixed group of able
bodied and handicapped youngsters some of
whom were wheelchair bound and would
have had difficulty keeping warm. They
tended the fire while the others built the
lean-to around them and that night they sat
round the campfire watching the trees above

for this type of shelter is turf. It can either be
laboriously cut from the ground or more
easily pulled from rocks or boulders where it
will often be found growing. If you want to
encourage turf to grow and become a living
roof, lay a covering of earth on the rafters
before you apply the turf.
Open-fronted lean-tos are commonly employed in survival situationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially in
cold dry climates. However, they rely upon a
fire for their warmth so do not build this type
of shelter if you are unable to light a fire. For
the uprights choose sturdy poles preferably
with branches forking off at their tops which
can be used to lodge the ridge and support
poles, saving you the task of making cordage.
The frame must be sturdily constructed to
take the weight of the roof, which can be built
in the same way as for the fallen tree lean-to.
Again construct end walls to reduce cold
drafts. The beauty of this shelter is that you
can build a fire in front of the open side with a
reflector behind it to bounce heat back into
the shelter; this makes a considerable difference (see Fires). If you are short of daylight
construct the shelter with only one end of the

The optimum size for a group shelter is 7 people. Any more and one fire is not sufficient to heat everyone. Note the doors
which both exclude draughts and turn the shelter into a chimney, making the smoke rise straight up.

26

Because this lean-to is circular, the supporting posts support each other and with care no cordage is needed.
Well-constructed survival shelters are usually warmer than tents as they can often be centrally heated and have good
insulative walls.

27

dancing to the rhythm of a November gale
which could not penetrate their sanctuary.
Another advantage of this shelter is that once
a door is fitted the fire is completely hidden
and the smoke is drawn straight upwards.
Even if there is a frost, despite being open to
the elements, this shelter remains welcoming;
the warmth strikes you as you walk in.

securely by a large peg place below the apex.
Wigwams: Of course other nations employed tripod structures; in the woodland
regions wigwams were covered with different
barks such as birch, cedar, and basswood.
These are however quite elaborate shelters
best suited to long-term occupation.
The Wikiup: This is a large tripod shelter
which is of short-term use and which is
covered with brush and general natural
debris to a depth suitable for the prevailing
weather: a light covering for instance provides
shade from the harsh desert sun and the chill,
night breezes, while heavier coverings will
give protection from snow. A wickiup can be
built can be built to quite large proportions
though a five-person version is about the
largest I would advise. It is possible to use a
fire inside this shelter though you will need to
be very careful to avoid sparks which might
set the roof alight.
One or two-person tripod structures:
For the majority of your backcountry travels
you are most likely to be travelling either
alone or with one other companion. For these
situations smaller tripod-based shelters are
better suited to your needs. There are two
basic designs you can employ, the first of these
is arranged so that the tripod is formed from
two short poles with one long pole forming a

Tripod Structures
The tipis: The classic native shelter built
around a tripod is the tipi, and that used by
the plains tribes of North America was at the
peak of its development. While some nations
favoured a four-pole foundation the majority
favoured a tripod against which the additional poles were leant and eventually
lashed. Today these tents still find favour with
youth groups since they make a romantic as
well as a practical addition to any camp. I
have been asked by friends who use the latest
hi-tech mountain tents how tipis fare in high
winds, their being so tall. In the answer to this
question lies one of the tipi's design features
which is not obvious. The tripod structure of
the tipi does not stand perpendicularly; the
pole which faces away from the wind is
extended further than the other two poles.
This stabilizes the structure as well as
streamlining it. The tripod is then anchored

Tripods are one of the strongest shelter structures. By shortening one or two of the tripod legs two other variations are

possible.

28

Large tipi-shaped shelters can be difficult to thatch adequately. By shortening two of the poles a one- or two-person shelter
can be constructed. Because they are small they are strong and warm.

ridge. The shelter opening lies between the
two short poles, the roof being constructed
along the ridge which sweeps to the ground. A
design error in many shelters which incorporate a ridge pole is a tendency to choose a
ridge pole which is too short. Test your
structure before you roof it, if the pole is too
short you will not have room for your feet,
also remember that the pole will settle under
the weight of the thatching material. This
shelter design is well suited to wet weather
providing as it does, all-round roofing. Its
shortcomings are that it does not allow you to
make good use of a fire for heating. If you are
without sleeping bags build this shelter small
so that you save your body heat. At least
double your bedding materials and most
importantly construct a doorway which will
exclude as many drafts as possible.
My favourite tripod shelter is almost the
complete opposite to this structure, having
two long poles and only one short. The
opening is between the two long poles where a
reflecting fire can also be located. In effect the.
shelter is two quick lean-tos facing each other

except that by sharing the same upright there
is more storage space at the head end. When
you are laying on the roof supports allow
them to overhang the ridge poles; at the head
end you can allow them to overhang enough
for the two sides to meet at an apex for a few
feet. The best use of this shelter is as an
overnight stop for two people. Its great
advantage over other shelters is how quickly
it can be built; it can easily be done inside an
hour if you work hard and the materials are to
hand. For your beds build the high-walled cot
design described later, this will prevent you
and your bedding from shifting out of the lee
of the roof. As with all shelters which
incorporate a fire, keep a stock of firewood
and kindling inside in case of bad weather.
Four-Pole Structures
The Trapper's Shelter: Along the lines of
the wickiup but incorporating four poles
instead of three as its base is the trappers'
shelter. This is one of the best one-man
survival shelters, being well suited to both
medium and long-term occupation yet

The beauty of this overnight tripod shelter is that it can be built very quickly. Designed for two occupants it requires only
the same amount of thatching as a one-person shelter. It can be constructed in under half an hour by an experienced team.

30

Once the roof is thatched, two small sleeping areas are created, leaving the space between the long legs open. To heat the
shelter a small fire with reflector is placed on an imaginary line between the ends of the long poles.

31

Quadruped shelters are chosen when a rectangular floorplan is desired. They comprise two 'A' frames which either meet
at their apex or are spaced apart with a ridge pole. They tend to be substantial and used more long-term.

The wickiup is my favourite quadruped shelter that is especially versatile. Firstly it is a good long-term shelter which
allows the use of a fire, provides good working space, and food can be smoked in the eaves. Secondly it is especially useful
in arid windy lands, and thirdly in winter or subarctic forest conditions a tight fitting door, a ventilation port and extra
insulation of snow on top can be added.

32

heat. I rate this as greatly inferior to the other
shelters described, unless it is tightly thatched
and much effort is spent on draft-proofing it.
In hot conditions however, it is acceptable as
a shelter to provide shade.

quickly built. The quadruped base should be
set up to form a rectangular base, with the
long side as long as you are tall plus an arm
length, and the width two thirds the length.
Only three sides of this shelter are roofedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
one long and two short sidesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the remaining
long side becoming the entrance with a
reflecting fire in front of it. At the apex the
shelter should be about chest to shoulder
height. The advantage of this shelter is that it
provides a good living space which is heated
as well as offering ample storage space and
room to work in when the weather is bad.
It should not be underestimated how
important living and working space is when
you are billeted in a shelter for more than a
few days. Cramped conditions lower morale
very quickly, especially if you are knocking
yourself on protruding branches in the roof.
Whatever the design always spend a few
moments tidying the shelter up as you build,
the more it looks like a home the better you
will feel about it. If at the end of your stay in a
backwoods shelter you feel sorry to leave it
you have succeeded.
The Brush Hut: This is one of the most
often described backwoods shelters. It is
constructed around a skeleton which
comprises two A frames linked by a ridge
pole. As a shelter it is fine and has found
favour among a number of native tribes. But
it is slow to build, cold, drafty and difficult to

Bent Sapling Shelters
In some cases you may find young saplings
more abundant than dead branches for
building materials. This being the case you
will need to adapt your construction technique to suit.
The hoop kennel: The easiest sapling
shelter that can be built is the hoop kennel.
To construct this shelter you bend wands
(saplings about finger thickness) into hoops
which are pressed into the ground, the hoops
should be 60â&#x20AC;&#x201D;80cm high with the ends 80cm
apart. Place the hoops parallel to each other
and at about 30cm intervals so that they form
a tunnel shape. If you cannot find saplings
supple enough to form hoops use two shorter
saplings pushed into the ground so that they
face away from each other then bend them
together and intertwine them to form a hoop.
Once this tunnel is complete weave longer
saplings along the tunnel walls to add
structural strength. With this done it is
usually easier to fill the shelter with your
bedding material before you thatch the
shelter. At the feet end of this shelter weave
saplings to close it off in a bullet shape. To

Dome and tunnel-shaped shelters can be exceptionally strong and are easily constructed. They are less tiring to build but
generally more difficult to thatch.

33

The hoop kennel is the quick overnight bent-sapling shelter. It can be built for one or two persons and makes an excellent
framework for a large shelter sheet. Thatching requires careful interweaving of the framework with withes, fibrous barks
or grass before covering with leaf litter, turfs or slab-like barks.

roof the shelter you can use leaf litter,
bracken, long grass, bark, reeds or a combination of these things. Start thatching at the
ground on both sides of the kennel and work
to the apex where your last layers of thatching
should overlap. This is an excellent overnight
shelter which is quickly built, requires no fire
or sleeping bag for warmth, is weather proof
and cosy. The most common mistake made in
the construction of this shelter is to skimp on
the bedding. Make absolutely certain that
you create a springy mattress that will keep
you well off the ground.
Domed shelters: For a larger saplingbuilt shelter you should consider a dome
structure. In North America people built
waginoogans, wigwams or domed-shaped
homes covered in bark. In the African Congo
pygmies construct dome-shaped shelters
which are ingeniously tiled using large
(Mongongo) leaves, whilst on the North
American plains sweat lodges (backwoods
saunas) were also created from saplings.
Dome-shaped shelters are extremely strong,
as was proven to me one summer in the

British Lake District where I was involved
with a camp. Not untypically for that region
the rain had not stopped for a week and when
a gale blew up we were forced to abandon the
sweat lodge we had begun to build and
retreat to our tents. But that night a
full-blown gale struck, causing the collapse of
any worn-out or badly-pitched tents. The
sweat lodge was pressed into emergency
service for half the camp and when they
emerged in the morning to the scene of ripped
canvas and vanished tents all commented
how secure, sturdy and cheery the sweat lodge
had been compared to their tents.
For group activities large dome shelters can
make an excellent focal point, especially in
the cold winter months. Unless you are in an
area which is blessed with an ample supply of
bark, the traditional covering is out of the
question. If you are planning to build this sort
of shelter then a practical solution is to use
ground sheets or polythene sheetingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
although a woodcraft solution would be to tile
your shelter with grass blankets or similar
woven mats (see Basketry).
34

To build a large dome shelter the technique
is essentially the same as for the hoop kennel
except that the hoops are much larger and the
ground plan is an oval.

between one to three hours until the snow is
firm enough to carve. What actually happens
during this time is that the snow recrystalises
and binds together.
A labour-saving dodge explained to me by
a friend who is an Alpine guide is to pile the
snow over a cairn of rucksacks, which are
excavated when the snow hardens. In this
way you need to pile less snow to the volume
of space occupied by your rucksacks.
Once you are able to carve the snow, shape
the mound into a dome. This will provide
better structural support than the cone which
tends to be top heavy with the risk of the roof
caving in. Hollowing out the dome is relatively easy. Simply tunnel in at ground level. I
usually tunnel in three to four feet and then
excavate the sides of the initial tunnel starting
from the entrance where I can accurately
judge the wall thickness. This should be about
30cm thick at the base and taper to 15cm at
the apex. Be careful and avoid tunnelling too
fast or you may tunnel out of the side. To help
judge the wall thickness you can use a thin
piece of wood similar to a knitting needle, it is
a good idea to stop regularly to check your
bearings. Some people advocate placing an
upright pole in the centre of the heap and
another leading along the ground to the
upright. These are to act as way markers as
you tunnel, though I have not found them to
be necessary.
As soon as you can, cut an 8-cm vent hole
near the top of the shelter. This will help to
prevent carbon monoxide poisoning from
your stove, but as with all such vents make
certain that you can keep it clear of snow. The
finishing touches to your shelter are to clear
the snow to earth level if that is possible: the
Native American will tell you that Mother
Earth will warm your shelter and they are
right, for under these conditions the ground is
warmer than the snow. Also smooth the walls
of the shelter to avoid annoying drips from
melting snow. Apart from laying in pine
boughs or some such bedding you are
finished.
Snow caves: Deep snow drifts, especially
on sloping ground or against a bank of earth
or a boulder, can provide the basis of an
easily-built shelter. The snow however must
be either wind packed or have been lying a
couple of days so that it is firm enough to
excavate. Start your excavation by tunneling
straight in to the snow drift. Avoid overheat-

Shelters made of Snow
Despite popular belief emergency snow shelters arc not toastingly warm. They are
last-resort shelters which are used when other
materials arc frozen up. They work by
providing a warmer environment inside than
outside, by blocking off the chilling wind, and
by trapping body heat. Ground warmth is
also significant but you will need to provide
this in the form of pine boughs, skins or
sleeping mats. The choice of shelter you
decide to build will depend upon the conditions you are faced with, terrain and most
importantly the type of snow. Snow is not a
static material; it is always changing and as it
changes so do its properties and usefulness.
For this reason no one type of snow shelter
will always be usable.
The most useful type of snow you will
encounter is neve which is porous ice that has
not yet compacted to form solid ice. Because
of this it is full of air and acts as a good
insulator. This type of snow can be carved
and even quarried into blocks from which
igloos and snow walls can be built. Its
handling qualities are very similar to large
blocks of polystyrene. When used for more
than a couple of days the snow will gradually
become compacted into ice and will therefore
lose its insulative qualities, making it necessary to build a new shelter. This compacting
process is greatly speeded up when a stove is
used inside the shelter.
The Quinze: With powdery snow it is a
complete waste of time trying to construct
igloos or snow trenches as the snow has no
structural strength. To overcome this or for
use in areas with only a light covering of snow,
the hunters of the north devised the 'quinze'
or snow-heap igloo. This will only work
though if the temperature is below twenty
degrees. To build this type of shelter select a
suitable location and stir the surface thoroughly in a circle about eight to nine feet in
diameter. Having done this begin piling
surrounding snow into the circle if possible
allowing it to settle gently by falling from a
height of several feet. Keep piling the snow on
until you have a mound about six to seven feet
tall. Now you must leave the heap for
35

ing and sweating by removing some clothing
as your temperature rises; if you do not do this
your sweat will reduce the insulative properties of your clothing.
As you tunnel, throw the excavated snow
behind you where it can be further shifted by
a colleague. Stop frequently and surface for
air. When you have tunneled in for about a
metre begin to excavate a chamber, this
should be longer than it is tall with a raised
sleeping platform. The raised platform is
necessary because the warmer air inside the
shelter is always near the roof and the colder
near the floor. Just as you did with the quinze,
cut an air hole. This is vitally important if you
do not want to risk poisoning yourself with
carbon monoxide, a risk increased by the use
of a stove inside the cave. Even a slight lack of
air can cause problems, for without sufficient
air your body cannot burn food efficiently
and you will be cold. In fact it has been
known for men to become frozen solid during
their sleep waking to find themselves unable
to move!

Once the excavation of the cave is complete
the procedure is the same as for the quinze:
smooth the walls and create an insulated floor
with whatever you can. A final refinement
you can make is to create a draught-proof
entrance by building a wall outside the tunnel
entrance. By burning a candle inside the snow
cave you can considerably raise the morale of
the occupants by increasing the temperature
and creating a cheery light. As the shelter is
used however, combination of heat from your
body, stove and candle will cause some
melting and therefore a reduction in insulation. Depending on local conditions you will
need to build a snow shelter every few days.
Snow trenches: The quickest and easiest of
all snow shelters to build is the snow trench, it
also has the advantage of not being enclosed
so reducing the risk of suffocation. Its
disadvantage is that it is generally colder than
the more draught-proof snow shelters.
The simplest snow trench which can be
built is a grave-sized trench with a roof made
from branches laid across and covered with

When snow is hard and packed it can be cut into blocks and all manner of wall-like constructions can be built. The ultimate
of these shelters is the igloo which is a wall that spirals around up and over into a dome. The most important factor is
cutting the blocks so that they lock tight with their neighbours. This is not a shelter to build for the first time in an
emergency.

36

The secret to building an igloo is to use the force of gravity to lock the blocks together.

snow (snow is an excellent insulator). If you
are a skier a similar shelter can be improvised
using your skis and ski poles as roof supports
and a poncho or ground sheet as the
thatching material.
If none of these materials are available you
can always use the snow itself by constructing
an arched roof of snow blocks.
The igloo: This is the snow shelter which
rightly earns its reputation as a classic.
Essentially it is a shelter for two or more
people and given the right conditions and
team work, Native Canadians have been
known to build an igloo in under forty-five
minutes.
To build an igloo you must begin with good
wind-packed snow. This should be quarried
into blocks which are roughly a metre long by
half a metre wide and fifteen centimetres
thick. If the snow is of a poorer quality than
usual you may be forced to use smaller blocks;
these will work but are much harder to use.
To cut the snow use a long bladed knife or
improvise a snow knife from whatever you
can; the natives used to use snow knives made
from wood or bone. The snow blocks are

heavier than you might imagine so work
steadily. The best method is for one person to
construct the igloo while the other members
of the party cut and transport the snow blocks
to the building site.
Choose a level area to build on and start by
constructing a ring of snow blocks each of
which tilts inwards and contacts with its
neighbour. This low wall is the foundation of
the igloo so make sure it is stable and solidly
built. The secret of building an igloo is to use
the force of gravity to lock the snow blocks
together. This is achieved by laying the blocks
in an upward spiral so that as each block is
laid it rests against the layer below it and the
block laid previously. The spiral starts at the
foundation wall where the wall is cut to
produce a slope from the base of one block to
the top of its fourth or fifth neighbouring
block.
Start laying the blocks making sure they
make contact in three places; this is essential if
they are to hold together. As you progress
increase the angle at which the blocks lean
inwards, if incorrectly built the wall will begin
to take on an alarmingly unstable appear37

ance. If you do not tilt the blocks in enough
you will end up with a more conical than
hemispherical igloo, which is an inefficient
shape for warmth retention as the warm air
near the ceiling is allowed to rise above the
sleeping platforms. As the blocks spiral in to
enclose the roof you will need to cut them to a
suitable shape, so that the king block (the last
block which locks the structure into a stable
shape) is fitted wedge like with bevelled

the floor and away from the cold air. Heating
can be provided from a candle or hike stove
(ventilate well). Traditionally the koodlik, a
lamp which burns crushed seal fat by means
of a plant fibre or moss wick, was used for this
purpose.
Beds in the Backcountry
No matter what type of shelter you are
building it will not provide you with a proper
night's sleep unless you arrange a bed of some
sort. This has to be the most under-rated
survival chore. The choice of bed you choose
to make will depend upon the conditions,
materials and lime available to you.
Cot wall bed: The simplest bed which
provides adequate insulation for general use is
the cot wall bed. This has for its base a layer of
wood designed to raise your body off the
warmth-sapping earth, which is then further
insulated and sprung with bracken or dryleaves in quantity. The best wood for this is
dead dry branches with an average diameter
of three finger widths. Lay these so that they
are horizontal to the length of your body and
then construct a wall of two long logs, one on

Built correctly, the builder should be
entombed in the doorless igloo. The next task
is to cut a ventilation hole in the roof and a
doorway at ground level. To wind proof the
tunnel you can either dig it as a trench which
has a right-angle turn up into the igloo, or
you can construct a walled tunnel into the
interior. The finishing touches to an igloo are
to caulk any cracks in the walls with loose
snow and to pile snow against the wall base to
prevent the foundation from being eroded by
wind. If you have access to a slab of ice you
can even fit a window.
As with all snow shelters you should
arrange a sleeping platform to raise you off

The cot wall acts as a restraining barrier to prevent your insulative bedding from shifting in the night. Seen here in a tripod
shelter it has the added task of keeping the occupants snugly in the lee of the shelter.

38

boughs. Costly on branch tips, this technique
must be reserved for those wilderness areas
where the spruce and balsam trees grow thick
and close. An alternative to spruce bough is
heather; this works equally well and once
provided me with a slumber akin to hibernation.
Hot coal bed: In the far north the
temperature can drop so low that your hands
exposed from gloves for more than a few
minutes begin to bleed from the cold. To
survive the night in these conditions the
native inhabitants learned to make a bed
which gives out heat. By clearing the ground
to bare earth and lighting a large fire on it for
several hours, depending on the fuel used, the
ground becomes dry and hot. To make the
bed clear away the embers with an improvised rake and brush away all of the ash ready
to take your bedding. The ground if heated
long enough (and with adequate insulation
underneath yourself) should warm you
through the night. The biggest problem with
this bed is that the ground may be too hot.
A variation on this theme which gives heat
of more even temperature is the hot coal bed.
The technique is the same except that
fist-sized rocks arc added to the fire (these
must be dry and non glassy as such rocks may
explode when heated). When you are ready
to turn in for the night you can dig the embers
and rocks into the ground and give them a
generous covering of earth to prevent an
unpleasant awakening! Allow any moisture
which may steam from the ground to cease
before laying down your bedding.

top of the other, either side of the log bed. If
possible use the back of your shelter as a
substitute for one side of the cot. The purpose
of the walls is to contain the insulating layer of
leaves and prevent it from shifting under your
weight. I find that it is unnecessary to wall in
the head and feet ends. Do not underestimate
the amount of leaves you need when you have
filled the cot. A good guide is to treble the
amount you have included to allow for
compression. Just as with a sleeping bag, air
the leaves each day.
Saplings and branches: This is the
woodsman's spring mattress. Gather springy
young branches from a recently fallen tree
(ideally an ash tree). Bundle these springy
branches together and lay them as a mattress,
testing it to ensure that there are no cold
spots. If you do the job correctly you will be
suspended at least three inches off the ground.
The comfort of this bed is improved by
adding a further layer of leaves or better still a
blanket which can be woven from plant
materials if you haven't got a woollen one
with you.
Spruce bough bed: If you step into a
hunting lodge of the woodland people of the
far north you will find the floor carpeted with
a thick layer of spruce boughs which send
their sweet aroma to the rafters. The spruce
bough bed is made from the tips of spruce
blanches which are nipped off by hand at
about fifteen centimetres. They are then laid
upright so that the broken woody stem is
touching the ground, each bough being
supported by its neighbour. It helps with a
small bed to construct a frame to enclose these

39

Fire
'Oh, the magic of the campfire! No unkind feeling long
withstands its glow. For men to meet at the same campfire is
to come closer, to have better understanding of each other,
and to lay the foundations of lasting friendship.'
(Ernest Thompson Seton, Two Little Savages)

The Indian knew that, 'Grandmother Fire,'
the bringer of warmth and light was a force to
be respected. Without the convenience of
modern materials and firestarting equipment,
he had to know in which trees she slept and
how to coax her from slumber to his aid.
Today she still sleeps in those same woods and
the competent backwoodsman need never be
without fire once he has learned to call her.

attempt as you have to master making the
apparatus as well as the technique. But make
sure you put in one hundred per cent effort at
every stage. Success comes from the right
combination of wood, the correct apparatus,
the correct technique and a determination to
succeed.
Fire Drills
There are two main fire drillsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the bow drill
and the hand drillâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and as their names
suggest, the technique of using them involves
drilling one piece of wood into another at
ninety degrees to the grain. The difference
between the two is the method by which the
drill is spun ranging from using a counterweighted flywheel to simply spinning the
drill between your palms. The secret is to
achieve the correct ratio of drill rotations to
downward pressure, this is something you will
get a feel for as your experience grows, and
will vary from wood to wood and technique to
technique.
The bow drill: This is the most popular
friction firelighting technique. It earns its
popularity from its success in damp conditions, and was commonly employed by the
native peoples of the central Canadian Arctic.
For survival purposes it would be ideal except
for the fact that it requires a piece of strong
cordage which is not always to hand.
With any friction firelighting technique
you are wasting your time and hard-earned

Fire by Friction
Of all the ancient survival skills, friction
firelighting is the hardest to master, requiring
perseverance and determination coupled with
technique and physical fitness. From a technical point of view it is theoretically very simple
and once mastered, is practically very simple.
The difficulty lies in adopting the correct
mental approach. Time and again I have seen
students with the correct technique fail
because they gave up on the verge of success
or did not attack the problem with success in
mind. Determination counts for a great deal,
as was borne out when I demonstrated the
bow drill to a friend who had been wanting to
learn this technique for years. Once he had
the correct apparatus in his hand there was no
stopping him and despite an inefficient
technique which was painfully less effective
than the ideal, when he was on the verge of
collapse he produced fire. Do not expect to
emulate quite such success on your first
40

Used as far north as the Canadian Arctic, the bow drill fire set is the most practical primitive firelighting technique in
emergency situations. To succeed though, every part must be precisely manufactured.

energy if you try to conjure fire from the
wrong woods. Listed below are some of the
most suitable woods for the bow drill technique, the list is not inclusive of all woods which
can be used as it would take a lifetime to try
every possible combination. Instead it covers
those woods you are most likely to encounter
or succeed with. You would be wise however
to experiment when and wherever you can.

rotten wood will simply crumble when used.
Ideally you must look for dead wood which
has not quite begun to decay. While you can
occasionally find such wood on the ground
the best source is often those branches which
have broken off yet have remained suspended
or snagged in the tree and have therefore
remained comparatively dry. An alternative
source can be found in a copse where saplings
have been damaged by animals or affected by
drought.
If the wood is suitable you will not need a
knife to break it free since it should snap
sharply, although not too easily. Check that
the wood is not rotten at its core by inspecting
the break; it should be firm rather than either
too hard or soft and in a condition fit to carve.
If you have found the right piece of wood,
which may take several tries, you now need to
study the wood. A good woodsman can see
what he is trying to carve in the wood as
though it is trying to jump out, his task being
to merely free it. Using your stone tools or
knife carve the wood to the design of the
apparatus. If you have chosen your wood
wisely it should need little work and be nearly
of the correct dimensions already. The drill is
about 20-25mm thick and about 20cm long
(whenever carving allow at least an extra

The condition of the wood you select for
making your fire drill is important. Green
wood is far too damp to produce fire and
41

created at the bearing block you will not
succeed, and then to help reduce the friction
you can lubricate the bearing block depression with pine resin, fat or waxy leaves such as
holly or laurel.
To provide the rotation to the drill you will
need a piece of strong cordage; this is usually
the hardest part of the set to make. The
problem is that the string needs to be both
strong and resistant to abrasion. Very few
plant fibres are suitable for this purpose,
stinging nettle stems are one of the best
sources but require laborious preparation and
doubling twice (see Cordage). In arid country
yucca and similar plants will provide suitably
strong cordage quickly. For the most part I
take cord with me and prefer it made of
rawhide or gut (see Hideworking). The cord
should be a little over a metre long and fitted
to a bowed piece of wood; it is a common
misconception that this 'bow' must be springy
like an archery bow. On the contrary this bow
should have little or no spring in it. Choose a
light strong wood with as near perfect a shape

finger thickness at each end). It is important
that the drill is perfectly cylindrical and
straight. The end which rotates in the 'hearth'
must be blunt pointed to create maximum
friction while the opposite end should be
sharp to reduce friction at the bearing block.
The hearth should be produced from the
same type of wood as the drill. To make the
hearth, square off three sides of this limb so
that you have a board about 40mm wide,
5mm thick and at least 30cm long. The
hearth and drill are the only parts of the bow
drill set which need to be carved of the correct
wood.
As long as it serves the purpose intended
any wood can be used for the remaining parts.
The bearing block is best carved in hard wood
and can even be green; it should be from 8 to
12cm long and carved to fit the hand
comfortably, with a small depression carved
in it to locate with the pointed end of the drill.
Your aim with this piece of the apparatus is to
apply downward pressure to increase friction
at the hearth. If however too much friction is

If your bow drill technique is correct and you are using the correct woods, you should be able to produce fire easily within a
minute.

42

Place your left foot on the hearth just left of
the depression, with the hearth under the
arch of your foot. Place your right knee on the
ground about a thigh length behind your left
heel, with your right foot extended behind
you. Now take the drill and twist it into the
cord as shown. Place the friction end of the
drill into the depression and place the bearing
block on top, making sure you have taken
steps to lubricate it.

as possible. String it with the cordage so that
when the drill is twisted once in the cordage it
is gripped firmly.
Working In: If you have followed the
instructions carefully you should be ready to
fine tune your fire-starting kit. Take a sharp
implement (stone or knife) and gouge a
shallow depression in the hearth board. The
depression should be located in the centre of
the board and about 40mm from one end.
Now, holding the equipment as shown in the
photo, begin to drill into the hearth. If you
arc using the correct technique you should
find the drill beginning to smoke at the
hearth. Stop after a couple of seconds and
inspect the depression; it should now be a
charred circular depression the same
diameter as your drill. If you have difficulty
with the drill spinning out, either the initial
depression you made was not deep enough or
you are not keeping the bow parallel to the
ground as you drill.
Having burned in the hearth depression
there only remains the notch to cut. This is
critical to the success of the apparatus. As you
drill, some parts of both hearth and drill are
consumed, becoming a fine hot black dust. By
cutting a notch you enable the dust to collect
in one place as a 'coal'. When enough of this
hot dust or coal has gathered, it will begin to
coalesce just like cigarette ash and it is from
this that you will generate fire. The notch is a
straight forward 'V cut extending from the
edge to the centre of the hearth depression. In
size it is just over one eighth of the depression.
Try to copy the illustration exactly. Assuming
you have built your fire and have prepared
your tinder you are now ready to light your
fire.
Place a small slab of bark under the notch
to prevent the coal falling onto the damp
ground. Once you have produced the coal
you will be able to use this slab to transport it
to your prepared tinder. Some people prefer
to compress their tinder and place this under
the notch. This works just as well although
there is a risk that your tinder will become
dampened.
Using the Bow Drill: Do not be surprised if it
takes you several attempts to succeed; this is
normal. In fact you will probably need to
make several depressions and notches. Use the
accompanying photographs as a guide to how
to make it work. If you are left handed read
left for right and vice versa.

With less suitable wood types, damp conditions or when
you are tired, what is otherwise a simple task can become
very difficult. Working with a friend can help.

Hold the bearing block with your left hand
and reinforce this hold to prevent wobble by
resting your left wrist against your left shin.
This is very important. Grasp the bow in such
a fashion that your fingers are wrapped
around both bow and string so that by
tightening your grip you tension the string.
Now, being sure to keep the bow parallel to
the ground begin to drill. Your aim is to
develop a rhythm and then to increase
pressure and speed until a coal is produced.
This will take some practise but as a guide,
watch the amount of smoke you are producing and as soon as the hearth begins to give off
smoke increase both your downward pressure
and speed to the point where the smoke is so
thick you cannot see the hearth; this can be
rather acrid. Once you reach this point make
long powerful strokes of the bow being sure to
maintain the same level of smoke. With
practise you will be able to judge when to
43

quoted is one using a set-up similar to the
pump drill the notion being that you can
produce fire with less effort. Such a device was
used by the Iroquois to make ceremonial fires
using a shaft over a metre long. I find this
method to be impractical despite all its
advocates: the apparatus involves considerably more effort to produce than a bow drill
and in operation it is slower. A practised
fire-lighter can usually summon fire from a
bow drill considerably quicker than with a
pump drill.

stop, but while learning count twenty long
strokes before stopping.
Now, if all is well you should have a pile of
black powder smouldering in the notch. Do
not panic or rush thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;sit back and
relaxâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;many a coal has been lost through
over haste. If you fan gently with your hand
or blow gently on the coal it should smoulder
more hotly and begin to glow, as well as
holding together better. Next take a small
twig or pine needle and carefully place it on
top of the coal and roll the hearth away. You
should now be able to lift the coal by the piece
of bark and drop it into the tinder bundle you
have previously prepared. Make sure that the
coal is tightly surrounded by finely teased
tinder and blow on the bundle so that the coal
can grow. Once the bundle is glowing
brightly it normally only takes a final puff to
set it aflame.
Troubleshooting: If you have not produced
enough powder to fill the notch despite
athletic attempts to do so, there could be
several things wrong. One of the most likely is
that the wood of the drill and hearth are of a
different hardness therefore one is simply
consuming the other instead of producing a
coal. Another is that you may not be drilling
hard or fast enough; an indication of this is if
the coal is more brown than black. If you are
pushing down harder than you are drilling
fast you will find that the powder is more
fibrous and less powdery. If the notch is filled
with powder but is not smouldering you are
not putting enough effort into the process and
must push and drill harder.
Alternative methods: There are several other
methods of firestarting that are very closely
related to the bow drill method. A technique
employed in arctic regions where wood long
enough to produce a decent bow can rarely be
found, was to use a thong with a toggle at
each end. This works for one or more people.
If you are using it by yourself then you hold a
toggle in each hand and bear down on the
drill top with a bearing block which is carved
so that it can be held between the teeth. An
easier way is if there are two or three of you
and then one can hold the bearing block and
the other one or two can draw the thong
backwards and forwards. When working as a
team you will be able to produce fire from a
far wider range of woods than when working
solo.
Another method of fire lighting often

The Hand Drill: The easiest fire drill to
make is the hand drill. As its name suggests
this technique involves generating fire by
spinning a drill between your hands. Its great
advantages are that it is easy to make and
that it does not require any cordage. It is also
light and easy to transport. Its drawbacks are
that it is less effective in damp conditions than
a bow drill and that the wood it is made from
must be perfectly dry. It is also a difficult
technique to perfect to the point where you
can rely implicitly upon it. However this
should not put you off. Even in damp
England I use the hand drill to light my fire at
least twice as often as the bow drill. After all if
you fail you can always fall back on the bow
drill.
Compared to the bow drill the hand drill
requires great finesse since you are generating
heat with less mechanical advantage. For this
reason the drill must be of a smaller diameter.
Because the process is less violent you can
make the drill from wood which has a soft
pithy centre (many of which would be
unsuitable for the bow drill). The secret to
success lies in achieving the perfect balance of
speed to pressure, but because this method
attains little mechanical advantage the timing and execution of your technique must be
absolutely perfect or you will exhaust yourself
long before you produce a coal.
Your choice of wood is directly related to
the technique you must use to drill. For
example if you are using a drill of elder or a
Field Maple hearth you will need to drill fast
with as much downward pressure as you can
generate, while if you are using a drill of
Cattail (Greater Reedmace) which is very
papery you would need to use a very fast
drilling action with little or no downward
44

The hand drill does not require the use of any cordage but does require an absolutely perfect technique. Many
pithy-centered woods can be used for the drill.

pressure. You will also find that the drill tips
need to be prepared in slightly different ways.
This knowledge will come with practise but to
begin with you just need to be aware that
differences exist between woods and combinations of woods.

Choose your woods carefully making absolutely certain that they are as dry as you can
find. In most cases the drill should be as long

The hand drill is spun between your palms while exerting
a downward pressure. Watch the hearth to see when you
have produced a 'coal'.

Begin drilling slowly and gently (keeping
the wear and tear of your hands to a
minimum) and as you see smoke beginning to
rise from the hearth gradually increase your
speed and downward pressure to your maximum. This is the art of the technique; with
the bow drill you can drill longer and harder
because of the mechanical advantage the bow
gives you, but with this technique it is down
to your own stamina. If you can learn to
judge when to apply full power, you will find
this technique much easier, and will avoid
developing blisters so quickly. The coal which
you eventually produce though is much
smaller than with the bow drill so must be
treated with a little more care.

and straight as possible (with practise you will
find you can use shorter drills). With a long
drill you can apply downward pressure more
easily and can drill for longer without
stopping. The diameter of the drill will vary
from wood to wood, but to give you some
indication, I found some of my drills to have
the following dimensions: elder drills were
between 13 and 11 mm in diameter and
between 500 and 630mm long. Mullein drills
were between 8 and 10mm (though more
often IO) in diameter and somewhat
shorter between 375 and 460mm. Cattail
drills which are very fragile averaged 9mm in
diameter and 480mm in length. I only
measured what I consider to be the average
drills; quite a few in my collection are
considerably shorter, but most of these started
out at an average length and have become
shorter through use. For your initial attempts
do not use a drill shorter than 700mm.
The hearth is made in the same way as you
make the hearth for the bow drill except that
it is scaled down in size to match the drill, do
not make this too thickâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;15mm is thick
enough. As you will see from the list the
hearth wood is often a different wood to the
drill, it is not necessarily the case that the drill
must be harder than the hearth as some have
suggested. The relative hardness of drill to
hearth will vary from combination to combination; experimentation is the only way you
can tell what will or will not work.

Alternative

method:

To

apply

downward

pressure on the drill an alternative technique
is to use a bearing block held between your
teeth. This can be useful in so far as you can
produce fire from harder woods than would
be possible with the hand drill, but the drill
must be perfectly straight to reduce the
sensation of the vibrations scrambling your
brains!

Using the Hand Drill:. When you first come

to use this technique solo, it will feel very
awkward to be holding the hearth still while
you are trying to spin the drill fast. All these
techniques benefit from practise and I would
suggest you try it with a friend first who can
hold the hearth for you until you learn to
produce fire. Once you can do this you can
then develop your own method for holding
the hearth as you drill. To perfect the drilling
technique you need to learn to drill continuously by spinning the drill between your
palms and applying considerable downward
pressure. In doing so you will find your hands
will gradually move down the drill. To spin
the drill continuously, you must learn to move
them back up the top again by stopping
drilling and holding the drill in the hearth
with one hand as you reposition the other at
the top of the drill. This action must be
smooth and swift as the longer you stop the
colder the coal will become.

A variation on the hand drill is to apply downward
pressure with a mouth-held bearing block.
46

The fire saw and fire plough are two less commonly found fire lighting techniques which are very simple to operate. I have
found that they work best when employed by a team of two.

slowing your sawing action (thus it is important to make full use of the extra speed
possible at the start of sawing). Exactly in the
same way as for the bow drill, use the amount
of smoke produced as your guide to when to
stop. The tendency with this technique is to
stop sawing too soon or to slacken off the
downward pressure as it becomes more
difficult to saw. Compared to the above
techniques this method is extremely labour
intensive but it is simple and easily manufactured. If you can work as part of a team of two
this technique is much easier, but you will
need to make the equipment large enough for
you both to handle comfortably.

Fire Saws
Exactly as its name implies, this technique
involves sawing one piece of wood into
another, and just as with the drill techniques,
if you saw the pieces of wood hard and fast
enough, you will produce a powder which
eventually becomes a coal. You use the same
woods as you would use for the bow drill. The
saw should be no smaller than 500 to 750mm
wide, 60 to 90cm long and 120mm thick in its
middle, tapering like a blade to the edges.
The hearth has the same dimensions but has a
groove carved down its centre parallel to the
edges. This groove serves the same purpose as
the notch in the drilling techniques, it should
be about 80mm wide and the same deep.
Take the saw and begin sawing across the
hearth at right angles. This will produce a
furrow and when this is apparent but not yet
established, stop sawing and rest in preparation to produce fire. The secret to success
with this technique is a short fast sawing
action combined with as much downward
pressure as possible. It is absolutely essential
that the hearth is securely anchored to the
ground. Even if you are working as a team of
two, peg the hearth to the ground to help
prevent sideways movement.
Begin sawing at a medium pace but
accelerate quite rapidly, for as the saw cuts its
way into the hearth the friction increases,

Fire Ploughs
Fire ploughs are similar to fire saws in that
they involve rubbing one stick against another but in this case they are rubbed in line
with the grain. Of the principal friction
firelighting techniques this is my least
favourite, as it is a difficult technique to
impart to students as the coal does not collect
in such a definite and obvious manner as the
other techniques. For the hearth you will
need to carve a board about 60cm long,
25mm thick and 50 to 75mm wide. Establish
a groove down the centre of this board
parallel to the edges, this only need be deep
and wide enough to keep the plough stick
47

Above: The principle is simple. One piece of wood, when sawn against the other at ninety degrees, produces a coal which
forms in a groove down the middle of the hearth piece.
Below: Modern firelighting equipment.

48

from slipping off the board while starting to
plough. The plough stick should be from 30 to
60cm long and from 12 to 20mm in diameter.
Here again the bow drill woods list can be
used as your guide to woods.
To use the fire plough place the hearth on a
slight incline, I prefer 45 degrees, away from
you. At the foot place your tinder, then
plough the groove with a stick scraping off the
powder which will be clearly seen falling
down the groove towards the tinder. It is
important to plough hard and fast; if you
have someone with you, ask them to steady
the hearth and with a small stick help to
gather the powder together into a coal. To
obtain the maximum downward pressure
kneel on both knees and use your whole body
in the ploughing action. Unlike the previous
techniques you will be able to see the coal as it
is produced and so can easily judge when the
right moment to stop has been reached.

Today, outfitters of survival equipment sell
synthetic flint substitutes which shower sparks
on tinder. But producing sparks naturally is
more difficult and the quantity produced is
far smaller requiring more thoroughly prepared tinder and a more precise technique.
Basically there are two ways of producing
sparks effectively in the backwoods. The first
of these involves the use of flint or quartz
against iron pyrites. The second method
involves striking flint against steel such as a
strike-a-light steel or a suitable knife blade.
Both techniques require the same sort of
tinder which must be dry and well prepared.
Glistening gold on the stream bed, small
particles of iron pyrites have many times
seduced the greedy eye of would-be gold
prospectors, earning this ore the backcountry
name of 'fools gold'. But the native knew that
when the winds blew cold and the trees
popped from the expansion of their frozen
saps, fools gold could be a truly priceless gift
from nature.
Iron pyrites can be used to produce sparks
for firelighting by striking them, with a flint.
Flint tends to be brittle and unwilling to give

Fire from Sparks
The tinder box with flint and steel were the
common firelighting tools until very recently.

Flint and steel strike alights. Simple and effective, sparks struck from steel or iron pyrites can be used to set tinder
smouldering.

49

sparks, but if struck a sort of sawing blow with
the edge of a hand axe (see Chapter
Fourteen) small amounts of yellow-orange
sparks are produced which will set carefully
prepared tinder a glow.
The strike-a-light steel is a far more willing
provider of sparks. These specially-prepared
firelighting tools were the standard method
by which the earliest white pioneers secured
fire. They were also quickly adopted by local
natives. The European steel tended to be
U-shaped and was held steady while struck a
planing blow with the edge of a flint shard or
gun flint, which showered the red-orange
sparks in quantity downwards on to the
tinder, which was usually carried in a tinder
box or tin. Natives including the nations of
the Far North preferred to hold the flint still
and strike it a scraping blow with the steel.
This showers the sparks upwards into the
tinder which could be held on top of the flint.
With this method the tinder and flint were
usually carried in small buckskin strike-alight pouches worn around the neck. These
are well suited to situations where the ground
is often damp.
It is unlikely that you will have one of these
special tools but you may be able to improvise
using the back of your knife. Although not all
knives will produce sparks (stainless steel will
not work nor will many good carbon steel
knives of a relatively low temper), if the knife
has a folding blade, wedge it slightly open so
that you do not skin your knuckles with the
flint, and use it in the manner described for
the U-shaped steel.
With strike-a-light techniques the most
important aspect is the tinder. This must be
bone dry and carefully prepared. In their
heyday these lighters were used with special
tinders impregnated with salt petre. But this is
not available to you in the backcountry, so
here you will need to search for plant downs
(see Tinder List) which late in their season
can make excellent tinder. Alternatively the
dusty particles of decaying wood, called
'punk' can be used. With the exception of
some plant downs these tinders will smoulder
rather than burst into flame; nurture these
glowing coals to life just as you would the
friction coal. Once you have your fire alight
you can produce a more reliable tinder from
cotton clothing. Cut this into strips set it well
alight and then quickly smother it with sand
or step on it. The result should be a strip of

cotton charred black which will take sparks
very easily.

Constructing a Fire
Some things in nature seem timeless. Take for
instance the novice learning to construct a
fire. Having once seen an expert kindle a fire
with deft speed he tries to emulate the skill as
he perceives it rushing to ignite a poorly
chosen heap of leaves and twigs, and finding it
difficult to emulate the expert's success. Such
failures can be discouraging, but in my
experience are the vital steps to developing
real expertise. The next time that novice has
the chance to watch an expert laying a fire,
every step will be scrutinised and committed
to memory. The student with real promise
will apply the lesson he or she has learned, to
any skill which is taught by demonstration.
Fire lighting depends upon three factors,
the availability of suitable materials, the
ability to produce a flame, and the ability to
use that flame to start a fire. To be really
proficient you should practise lighting a fire
by natural means in many different terrains
and under the most adverse weather conditions. However in realistic terms this is only
feasible for the really dedicated or professional. Should you find yourself caught out in
bad weather it is certainly true that a fire can
be a cheery morale booster. On the other
hand if you fail to light the fire it can have the
opposite effect on your morale and in the
process of trying you may unnecessarily
expose yourself to the elements thereby
worsening your condition. In such circumstances it should not be an automatic response
to light a fire. Consider these factors first: are
you capable of lighting a fire in the present
conditions? Could you find nearby shelter
and wait for more favourable fire lighting
weather?
Remain adaptable. If you decide to try and
start a fire but find that you are having
difficulties don't be too proud to stop and
start again from scratch or simply to wait for
better conditions. Many times I have seen
scouts and campers feeding match after
match to a sodden bundle of twigs and sticks,
despite having been taught better.
The expert outdoorsman or woman should
always be one step ahead so that when it is
decided to stop for a hot drink or pitch camp
50

a site is chosen which will provide the
materials necessary. This is especially true of
firecraft where the expert will choose a site
which will provide a safe bed for the fire and
plenty of fuel, even selecting a variety of fuel
in preference to a neighbouring alternative.
This may seem a great deal to think about but
in time and with practise it becomes an
almost subconscious thought process. The fire
is planned well before it is lit whether it is
needed for warmth, light or cooking, or a
combination of uses. In a party of experienced
outdoors folk, one person will set about
gathering fuel in a pile while another sets
about gathering the tinder and kindling and
another produces the fire-starting equipment.
With the fire kindled and the kettle on, the
other camp chores can be settled.
The first fire you should learn to construct
is the tipi fire, this is the fundamental
emergency fire especially useful if it is either
raining or you wish to avoid detection. It
gains its name for several reasons: firstly it is
shaped like a tipi but more importantly
because it was the way a fire was started
inside a tipi because it acts like its own

chimney forcing the smoke to rise straight
upwards. Because of its shape all of the heat is
used to consume the wood which drives off the
smoke-producing moisture in the wood so
once started, the smoke soon ceases. As a
general rule this lay is only used to start a fire
which can then be tailored to use.
Assuming you are located near to a source
of suitable fuel, the first consideration in fire
construction is the site you choose. This must
be away from any vegetation which might
catch light from wayward embers or sparks.
Ideally the ground should be level, if not you
may be able to level the ground yourself.
Avoid building your fire on peat as it is
possible for this to become ignited from your
fire and burn underground eventually reemerging to start a forest or heath fire. This is
also true of fires built on roots. Consider also
access to the fire: is it a comfortable site to
work around? Is there plenty of room? Will it
turn into a quagmire if it rains? With these
considerations taken care of, you can begin to
lay your fire.
Start by clearing a patch of ground to bare
earth -this should be on average about a

Once you have your tinder bundle alight you must not waste it. Make certain that you have already prepared your fire, and
have plenty of kindling ready. The tipi fire is good in these circumstances as it catches quickly, burning to embers very
fast.

51

metre in diameter. This will be the fire site, if
you are laying a pit-type fire this should be
dug now. If the ground is damp lay a platform
of dead wood about 30cm square and
comprising wood of about thumb thickness.
This is a good firelighting habit to adopt but
only really essential in damp conditions. The
next step logically is to lay the tinder but if
you do this the chances are that it will be
damp before you come to light it so gather it
and place it in a pocket or under a jersey
where it can stay dry.
For tinder use any convenient dry fibrous
material or plant downs. Those listed below
are better suited to strike-a-light techniques
when mixed in with other tinders. The most
commonly available and best known of these
tinders is birch bark, which burns long and
hot even when wet because it contains oil.
Unfortunately you can visit few campsites
which have birch trees without seeing the
scars where the unskilled have cut this bark
loose. This causes unnecessary damage for
birch bark peels naturally from the tree as
though made for our convenience. Only take
what is being shed naturally or from trees
which have fallen. Cherry bark can be used in
the same way. The best tinder I have yet
encountered is 'fat lighter'â&#x20AC;&#x201D;this is wood from
the stump of a decayed fat pine. Being
saturated with pine resin it only takes a small
flame to set a large piece of wood ablaze. I
first saw the remarkable properties of this
fabled wood in the State of Georgia where I
was camping with some friends, many of
whom are survival experts in their own rights.
As two local men lit the campfire, something
did not seem right. Then it dawned on us the
fire had been started from wood as thick as a
finger and straight to wood which was wrist
thick just in one stage. As the light of the fire
revealed my look of amazement, one of the
fire-lighters said with a slow Georgia chuckle:
'Our fire light'n skills are reeeel poor 'cos of
the fat light'r' and we all laughed. The
wonders of nature never seem to cease. I have
since tried other woods from decayed evergreen stumps and found them to work well
though not as well as the fat lighter. Look for
decayed evergreen stumps and cut the wood
into chips, that's all there is to it.

from the tree and set alight, they make an
aromatic alternative to charcoal briquets.
Pine cones make excellent tinder as do pine
needles; these need to be of the dry brown
variety. Set a large bundle alight and then fan
them to life.
Tinders
Birch bark
Birds nests (empty)
Cattail down
(Greater Reedmace)
Cedar bark
Cherry bark
Clematis bark and
down
Cotton grass down
Pine cones and
needles

As a general rule, with the larger less fibrous
varieties of tinder, try to wrap them into a
fibrous mass to help their ignition.
Kindling is the next stage in the construction. This is the intermediate stage between
tinder and fuel. For this you can use any
variety of very dry twigs. They need to be at
least brittle dry and the best source is those
snagged in branches off the ground. Gather a
tight bundle of these twigs which should be at
least 30cm longâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the tendency here is to
break the twigs too short thus making them
difficult to handle in construction. With the
kindling gathered, split it into two handfuls
and arrange these on the ground or fire
platform so that their tops overlap and
interleave, leaving a gap for the tinder in their
midst. In practice I usually place half of the
tinder under these twigs to lend support. With
this base constructed, lean other dry twigs
against the kindling starting with those pencil
thick and working in logical stages to those
thumb thick. With this done you are ready to
light the fire by igniting the tinder you have
saved and placing this under the tinder
contained in the fire.
With the fire burning you can add wood
but with this design it is best not to build the
fire too large as it is unstable and will
eventually collapse. When this happens rearrange it to your needs by using one of the
designs listed below.
The Indian's fire: This is the fire of the
trail, it comprises a tipi fire collapsed so that
the major pieces of fuel wood (no thicker than

Another excellent tinder is the crampball; a
small black/brown bracket fungus which
grows on horse chestnut and ash trees. These
are usually brittle and dry, but broken loose
.52

slow steady heat, and they are fed into the fire
just as with the Indian fire. But being thicker
they can be used to support a kettle or billy
with small cooking sticks being fed in between
them and fanned for extra heat. More a fire
for the fixed camp, this is an economical fire
which will burn for long periods with little or
no attention.
The hunter's fire: This is the fire of the
white man and is of more use in the fixed
camp than out on the trail. The native has
learned from centuries of practical backcountry experience that it is wasteful to use anymore effort than is required to achieve his
aim. This fire requires a higher degree of
organisation than previously mentioned fires,
but for those who like to see things neatlyarranged it remains a perennial favourite. Its
greatest strength is that it can be adapted to
many special cooking situations, especially
baking and grilling, and is easy to arrange
and control for groups cooking for large
numbers of people. Its disadvantage is that
unless carefully used and correctly vented, it
will not allow adequate combustion of the
fuelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;causing much eyewatering smoke. A
familiar sight on many youth camp grounds!
The simplest arrangement is to build the
fire between two logs or rocks which have
been placed so that cooking utensils can span
the gap. If no rocks or suitable green logs are
available, a trench will serve the same
purpose, making a more economical fire for
areas short of fuel. In length the fire needs to
be about a metre long and as wide as the
utensils used on it. Arrange the fire so that the
prevailing breeze enters one end of the trench
at a slight angle.
Because large green logs are used for this
fire it is not an uncommon sight to find the
half consumed remains of these fireplaces
slung into the undergrowth around a
camping place. While it can be argued that
they will decay and return to the forest they
are a sign of sloppy camping by people with
little regard for the natural beauty of the
wilderness. If you cannot burn the fireplace
you are intending to build before you depart,
use a trench or another type of fire altogether.
Fires with rock surrounds: Surrounding fires with stones is often said to be a good
way to prevent the fire from spreading. But in
truth a correctly sited fire will not spread
beyond itself. Rocks can be placed around a
fire to heat them for rock boiling (see Chapter

The Indian's fire is ideal for overnight campouts or
quick-stop snacks. It comprises several pieces of
medium-size wood being fed into the embers.

your arm) meet in the centre of the embers; as
the fuel woods burn they are gradually fed
into the centre. Especially when used with a
fire pit, this type of fire is excellent being both
economical and practical. When you are busy
elsewhere simply push the logs together, heap
some ash over the centre and it will smoulder
slowly until you are ready to once again fan it
into life. It is a common fault of the greenhorn
to think that unless a fire has flames it is not
doing its duty. To keep a fire in flames is a
costly business requiring constant collection
of firewood; flames are only a small part of the
gift of fire-- they provide light to work by and
will fry and boil but that is about all.

Often confused with the indian's fire, the star fire
comprises four or five much more substantial logs. A fire
for a fixed campsite, it works best with a firepit.

The star fire: Often confused with the
Indian fire, the star fire is fuelled with four or
five logs 15cm thick or more. Their ends rest
in the embers close together, maintaining a
53

Three) or drying woollen socks or such uses,
but care must be used. Never heat damp or
glassy rocks such as flint as these contain
moisture and air pockets which when heated
cause the rocks to pop open. At most, this
usually only scatters some embers, but there is
always the danger that the rocks will explode
more violently.
If you can avoid it, it is better not to build a
fire place of rocks at all as they become
blackened and look unsightly when you leave
them behind.
The criss-cross fire: Some winters ago,
while working for Operation Raleigh, I was
involved in the selection of some youngsters
for a TV adventure expedition. For part of
the selection process they were taken to a
remote outdoors location and given various
cunning initiative tests to complete, and were
filmed in the process. On the second day we
awoke to find a heavy blanket of snow on the.
ground, so by lunch time everyone was pretty
cold and the producer asked me if I could
provide a campfire for everyone to eat their
lunch around. In all there were I suppose
about thirty people which posed a problem.
How could I provide sufficient heat to warm
so many people from a comparatively small
supply of wood?

The solution was to build more than one
fire and with a colleague I elected to build
three fires in a triangle large enough to
accommodate thirty people in the centre.
Several small fires are always warmer than
one big fire. We chose the criss-cross fire for
the job because it burns fast and hot to give a
good even bed of embers, and because it is
stable unlike the tipi fire. Each fire was about
6ocm square and 90cm tall. They were lit five
minutes before lunch was served, and by the
time the first of the crew arrived, it was
already too hot to stand comfortably in the
middle of the triangle! We were all astonished
at just how effective the fires had proven,
testifying the fact that several small fires are
warmer than one larger fire.
Despite the fact that the criss-cross is
probably the finest fire lay for producing
cooking embers, I also use it when I need a
very warm fire very fast even in bad weather.
It has several times won me bets in such
conditions and I think this is because it
remains tightly packed as it burns down and
it settles on top of itself; the tipi fire for
example usually needs the addition of fuel
and attention once it has collapsed.
Reflector fires: By building a reflector on
one side of your fire you will greatly increase
your warmth. It can also be used for cooking
when baking bread or biscuits (see Cooking).
To make a really effective reflector partly
enclose the fire with a reflecting wall and then
place another reflector behind you to give all
round heat; you will be surprised at just what
a difference this makes. Reflectors can be
made of wood or you could simply place a
rucksack or an emergency foil blanket (if
carried) by the fire.
Fuel
So far we have looked at how to light a fire
and what shape of fire to build, but these
techniques are all dependent upon your
burning the correct fuel. I doubt there is any
other aspect of backwoods knowhow that will
save you as much effort as knowing which
woods burn best. Amongst other things,
which woods a backwoodsman gathers
reveals how skilled he is. In unfamiliar terrain
the expert will either make enquiries of the
locals or carry out quick experiments bygathering different local woods in each load.
As a general rule, woods which are
physically soft tend to burn fast and give few

The criss-cross fire is best used for cooking and burns
quickly and evenly.
54

way you can use the rest of the fire to provide
light, heat and more embers. Particularly if
you are broiling meat on such a fire, an
excellent method is to cut the meat into many
small segments which can be skewered on
small green sticks and barbecued. Many of
these backwoods sate sticks can be cooked at
once by arranging a simple support for the
spitsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;perhaps two small logs, one to raise the
sticks and one to anchor the other end. If you
need more heat you can either rake more
embers forward or as I usually do, lay some
dry wood which is about pencil to finger thick
on the cooking space and then fan this with a
bark slab. In this way you can achieve far
more precise control of the heat. This is an
excellent way to cook snake, snails, slugs,
lizards and grubs (more cooking fires are
covered in the Cooking chapter).
Wet and Windy Weather: Having already said that if you are not certain of your
abilities at firelighting in bad weather you
should consider waiting for clear skies, I must
also say that it is whether or not you can light
a fire in bad weather that separates the men
from the boys. If you have ever spent time in
the British mountains you will know that
there are times when the rain may not stop for
several days. Just such a situation arose when
I was running a course for the army in the
Elan valley in Wales. Soon after we arrived at
the bivouac site the heavens opened and
stayed that way until just before we departed
three days later. The course having been
designed to be a testing experience, it became
even more so in those conditions. Even with
instruction and the advantage of modern
firelighting equipment, it took all of the
groups several hours to light their fires. The
reasons for their difficulties are the classic
reasons why those with less determination fail
altogether.
Firstly they rushed into the task of
firelighting with little thought or planning. I
have noticed that in rain and other inclement
conditions people tend to look down at the
ground too much instead of looking around.
This is precisely what happened in this
instance and many of the fires were poorly
sited as became evident later on. But the
classic mistake they made was that the
kindling they gathered came from no more
than a few yards from their fire sites, and was
damp. In the backwoods you will not always
find all of your resources near to hand; it is

embers but a lot of light, whilst hard woods
burn slowly and very hot giving good embers
for cooking, though some may need soft wood
to help them to burn. Green hard woods burn
slowly, and moderately hot and are ideal for
overnight logs. Biologists term hard woods as
flowering trees and soft woods as conebearing trees but since this makes balsa a hard
wood and teak a soft wood, you should use
this definition as a guide line only.
It would be easily possible to fill a whole
chapter on the different burning qualities of a
variety of woods, but in woodcraft we do not
gain from memorising comprehensive lists.
Learning comes best from practical experience and experimentation. So the list of
woods I have included is deliberately short,
you should be able to find one or more of the
listed woods in your region, but by burning it
and then referring to the list you will gain a
reference from which to make your own
judgements. There is however one way to
remember the best fuel woods if you are in
doubt: BOAC the old British Overseas Air
Couriers translates well into beech, oak, ash,
chestnutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the best burning woods you will
find most commonly.
Fuel List
Soft woods: Balsam, Spruce, Pines, Alder,
Basswood, Cedar.
Best fuels: Apple, Ash, Beech, Holly,
Hawthorn, Hornbeam, Oak, Chestnut.
Green overnight: Ash, Beech, Birch, Oak,
Maple.
Other fuels than wood: In some regions
wood may not be the most available source of
fuel; on the prairies for instance you may be
better off gathering the droppings of herbivores which, if dry, make excellent fuel.
Fat-soaked bones can also be burned effectively as our Stone-Age ancestors would
attest, although they do not make the most
aromatic fuel. In the far north fat has been
burned for centuries in oil lamps.
Cooking fires
For cooking you need embers, although if
equipped with modern cooking utensils you
can use flames to boil and fry. For elaborate
meals you can lay a criss-cross fire for this
purpose but for most of your on-trail-needs
the Indian fire can easily be adapted by
widening a gap between two of the major logs
and scraping forward some embers. In this
55

often the case that you will need to hunt
around over some distance to find what you
need. In this case it would have been sensible
to have spent one hour gathering kindling
which was dry rather than three hours trying
to ignite soaking wood.
In bad weather you need to prepare your
fire very carefully, doubling up on the tinder
and kindling you would normally use. Take
full advantage of any of the barks and
especially useful tinders already mentioned.
In windy weather I triple the kindling,
staking the extra wood on the side that the
flames will point to. It can even be necessary
to erect a canopy or roof over your fire while
you build and light it. It can be a good policy
to build your fire a little at a time once you
have lit it, only adding more wood when you
see flames coming through the layer you
previously laid.
One answer suggested to help you light a
fire in bad weather is to carve feather sticks.
These are finger-thick pieces of wood which
have been shaved, leaving the curls of wood
attached at one end. They are best made of
split wood which usually remains dry in the
centre. A few of these sticks piled together will
do the trick, although if you can find wood
dry enough to make these you should be able
to find tinder and kindling. Poke around
under logs and evergreen trees which might
provide dry shelter for kindling. If you
practise your firelighting technique in bad
weather you should have few difficulties in a
real emergency. This is an absolutely
fundamental skill for self preservation.

quite easily. Make some larger cigar-like
bundles of dry fibrous bark moss or other
suitable material. Form the cigar (which
should be about two feet long and two inches
in diameter), around a finger-sized stick,
packing the fibrous material together quite
tightly, enclosing it with bark strips on the
outside all bound up with improvised cordage. Remove the stick and the cigar has a
draft channel. Simply light the cigar and let it
smoulder at its own pace, and as you travel
ensure that it is receiving a draught of air. If
you find that the match is nearly exhausted
kindle a fire and make another. There are still
a number of tribes in remote parts of the
world that carry their fire; some even claim to
have forgotten how to light a fire.
Leaving No Trace
When I take students on survival treks they
are often surprised at the lengths I go to in
removing any trace of our campfire. But it is
an essential act. If we do not disguise our
passing, the land would be covered in old
campfires. In fact in many wilderness areas
this is already the case, with sometimes as
many as six stone-encircled fires within
spitting distance of each other. Very often
these fireplaces are littered with old tin cans
and broken bottles making the unsightly mess
even worse. The real sadness for me is that
these fires are usually sited in special places
which drew the campers to their natural
beauty. Such desecration is the sign of an
amateur outdoorsman. My preference is to
leave no trace of a fire but in those sites where
there will always be a fire, it is often worth
removing any lesser fireplaces so that one
good firesite remains. This should be tidied up
before you leave in such a way that it is
obvious that you have made an effort, with
any spare firewood stacked neatly to one side
or placed where it will remain dry. The best
way to educate the less skilled woodsman is to
teach by example, the silent way.
When you build your fire where there was
no previous fire your aim is to leave the site as
it was when you found it with no sign of your
ever having been there. Avoid building your
fire on turf at all costs, if this is unavoidable
lift the turfs and excavate a bowl-shaped
depression forming a rim around this with the
turned turfs. Adding some water to the hole,
mix the earth like plaster and smear the bowl
smooth and cover the rim turfs so that all the

The Travelling Fire
In a real emergency, once you have struggled
to light your fire do not let it go out. At night
pile on plenty of fuel and cover the embers
with ashes and soil to slow down the
combustion. Take some tinder and kindling
to bed with you so that you have dry material
the next day. A good way to prepare this is to
wrap a bundle of kindling twigs with a dry
fibrous bark or grasses. A couple of these
'faggots' will guarantee you a fire. When
travelling, adopt the habit of stopping to
make such faggots when you pass the correct
materials; it will save you much time at the
end of your day, especially if it has decided to
rain.
If you intend to move around or travel any
distance you can carry your fire with you
56

grass is protected from the flames. This plaster
will harden in the heat, forming a neat fire
place. When you have finished, extinguish the
fire and scoop out the cold embers and ashes
which should be widely scattered some
distance from the fire site. Break the hardened
bowl, fill in the earth packing it tightly, add
some animal droppings for manure and
replace the turfs combing up the grass with a
branch, there should be no signs of scorched
grass. No turf lifting is ever fully effective but
in carrying out the above you minimise the
damage, create an excellent fireplace and are
more likely to replace the turfs carefully. This
is perfectly suited to youth and scout groups.

When you are in woodland with your fire
on bare earth try before extinguishing the fire
to burn all the fuel wood so that you are left
with a neat pile of white ashes. Let this go out
naturally or extinguish it with water, before
lifting and wide scattering some distance
away, then rake the area clean and redisperse
any leaf litter you may have gathered.
Embers must be extinguished fully before
lifting and scattering. You should be able to
handle them by hand if they are fully out.
NEVER bury embers; they can smoulder for
many days underground and in dry conditions possibly cause a forest fire.

57

Water
'Visit any modern shopping mall and you will find a
fountain of crystal clear water, and in the bottom of that
fountain pool coins cast in by passers by, who would
perchance a dream come true. For as the light shimmers
from these offerings it illuminates, deep within our subconscious minds, visions of the life-controlling water spirits who
alone, by Arthurian legend have puissance enough to hold in
stillness Excaliber.'
All around the globe people have revered
water and in some parts of Britain ancient
ceremonies linked to holy wells and springs
are still enacted. If you are lucky to be
walking in the Peak District in the spring you
might find a well adorned with flowers by
people who carry on the tradition of well
dressing. But there is nothing surprising in
this for water is life and as every backwoodsman knows, it is his most important daily task
to find it.
Water is an elemental part of outdoors life
and an understanding of it, and respect for it,
are essential to safety and well-being on any
outdoors trek. Just as fire can be both a
beneficial and harmful force of nature so too
can water; there is much to learn about
harnessing it to your benefit and avoiding its
hazards. Moreover in recent years we have
become complacent about our water supply,
losing our respect for it and casting into it our
effluents and poisons which pollute and kill.
Rare now is the sight of otters playing in
rivers, even in wild and remote country. It is
hard to imagine that these mischievous
creaturesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;whose appearance now symbolises
healthy water habitatsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; were once a common
sight. Pollution by chemicals is now a
problem which outdoors men and women
must learn to watch for, even though it is one
of the hardest of all problems to detect.

Why Water?
Within your body, water acts as a regulator,
helping you to stay warm in cold environments and cool in hot environments. It also
plays an important role in distributing food
and removing waste products. Without water
your body cannot function and if you cannot
replace the water your body loses naturally,
your health will deteriorate to the point
where you are no longer physically able to
collect or search for water. If you find yourself
cut off from a source of water the length of
time you can expect to stay alive will vary
according to a variety of factors: how much
water your body already contains, what the
temperature is, how fit you are, whether or
not you are eating or smoking, what clothes
you are wearing, whether you are calm or
nervous and how hard you are working. But
as a general rule four to six days would be an
average maximum.
As you travel through wilderness areas try
to plan your routes to take in regular
watering halts, and make certain you have
enquired about the availability and safety of
water from locals; they may be able to warn
you of seasonal flash floods or poison waterholes. If you are unable to make such
enquiries or you are without a map, as you
travel make full use of high ground to scan the
valleys below for indications of water. Above

water; drink as much as you can whenever
you can, but make certain it is safe to drink
first.
Pilots who operated in desert regions
during the Second World War would tank up
with water before a sortie by drinking as
much as their bodies could stand. This policy
saved the lives of many airmen who survived
being shot down, some of whom walked back
to their own lines across the desert. Frequently their journeys lasted several days and
they had to make do with only the water they
carried inside themselves. A problem often
encountered by doctors working with expeditions in arid regions is that of progressive
dehydration, where the expedition members
are drinking only enough water to slake their
thirst. This is not enough water to prevent a
build up of body salts, which over a prolonged
period of time can lead to nasty problems
such as kidney stones. Fortunately we are all
able to ascertain whether we are drinking
enough water or not by studying the colour of
our urine. As we become dehydrated the
colour of our urine will darken from its
normal light straw yellow colour. Remember,
when it comes to water, if it is safe to drink
you cannot drink too much; your body
functions will rid you of any excess.
If you are short of water do not eat, you can
live many days without food but only a few
without water. To digest food your body
needs water which it will draw from your
reserves.
Salt
Under no circumstances should you take salt
when short of water though some confusion
has arisen over the value of salt in hot
climates. If you are working in a hot
environment and perspiring above average,
slightly extra salt should be included in your
food to replace what you have lost. But if you
are short of water, taking salt will only make
matters worse. This is because the salt within
your body must remain in solution at a more
or less constant level. If you take extra salt
your body will try to dilute it to the required
level of salinityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and if you are unable to
drink, the water thus needed will be drawn
from other parts of your body.
In cold climates the problem of dehydration is slightly different. Then you tend not
to drink because you are not obviously thirsty.
In fact it is highly unlikely that you will die
from dehydration in a cold climate. But this is

all take steps to reduce the rate at which you
are dehydrating, in fact this is a policy you
should employ whenever you are travelling in
remote areas unfamiliar to you.
Dehydration and How To Reduce It
Tireless warriors of the desert, the Apache
trained their braves from childhood to endure
hardships and to be self reliant. Schooling in
survival techniques was of paramount importance, for a warrior was expected to raid
on foot and make his escape alone. With the
location of the water holes known to the
enemy no survival skill was of more importance than being able to find water where
others could not. Trained also to avoid resting
in the shade, an obvious place for an enemy to
search, the first lesson the aspiring brave
learned was to avoid losing the water his body
already contained.
On long training runs the boy was forced to
retain a mouthful of water, in this way he
learned to breathe through his nose to avoid
breathing out his water reserves. Sucking a
stone achieved the same effect, and was a
technique employed by more seasoned
warriors (if you breathe onto a piece of glass
or mirror you will soon see how much water
can easily be lost from your mouth). The
clothing worn by these desert wolves was also
chosen to reduce water loss; light and airy it
covered most of their exposed skin. In this
way they prevented excessive evaporation of
sweat to the surrounding air. The temptation
in hot arid conditions is to strip off because
you feel cooler that way. The reason you feel
cooler is that your sweat is evaporating giving
a cooling effect. This is fine when you have
plenty of water but has often proved lethal in
desert survival situations, where many bodies
found are completely naked. In really serious
conditions you may even have to cover up
completely, including head and face.
Although less comfortable you will at least
live longer. To further reduce water loss the
young warrior was taught to make full use of
the coolness of the morning and evening and
to stop in the heat of midday for a siesta.
When a war party came to a water hole
they would suck down the water in great
volume. One observer's account actually
describes the thirst of the party being so great
that they almost sucked a water hole dry.
Water is always of more use inside your body
than inside your canteen. Never ration your
59

little comfort, for if you become dehydrated
your body loses efficiency for keeping you
warm thereby accelerating the likelihood of
hypothermia and frostbitten extremities. The
traditional remedy for cold problems, a tot of
brandy or some such, while livening some
sensations will only further dehydrate and
chill you, making matters worse.

Grain and seed-eating birds must have water
as must frogs and similar amphibians who
may lead you to water by the sound of their
croaking. The trails of larger mammals will
eventually lead you to a source of water and
their very presence is a good indicator that
you are searching in the right area.
While these guidelines may seem obvious
written down here on paper they are more
difficult to apply in practice. To reach water
may involve pushing through thick tangles of
thorny vegetation on your hands and knees.
Under such circumstances it is very easy to
pass by a small brook or stream which is
obscured by undergrowth that superficially
does not seem promising. When you do
eventually find a source of water it may not be
in a form you are used to dealing with.

Finding Water
Every backcountry traveller will tell you that
water is an everyday necessity of outdoors life,
and that when on the trail a nearby source of
water is often the deciding factor in their
choice of campsite. Most will also have tales of
a time or a journey when water was scarce or
in short supply, even when in apparently
green and lush surroundings. It is at such
times that backcountry know-how is at its
most useful, turning an uncomfortable experience into a rewarding if novel demonstration of the wisdom of having practised
your training. For all its cunning elusiveness
water can be found in more cases than not,
but this does not mean that it will always be
obvious. Just as a good hunter knows the
habits of his prey so you must know the habits
of water:
1. Water seeps in to porous ground, but
runs across rock and clay. Because of this you
will be more likely to find water in rock or
clay conditions. If you find an area of porous
ground which is saturated with water it is
possible to extract it.
2. Water runs downhill along the path of
least resistance. For this reason it is nearly
always best to start your search at the foot of
steep slopes or cliffs and in the bottom of
valleys and canyons. Narrow canyons are
often a good bet as there is more shade and
less chance for moisture to evaporate.
3. Where there is water there is nearly
always an abundance of lush vegetation,
particularly water-loving species such as ferns
and mosses, willows alder, rushes, cattails,
elder and marestail. In some circumstances
you will be able to spot these trees and plants
from a distance. Make the best use of high
ground to scout ahead for obvious signs of
water. This is a habit to adopt regardless of
the abundance of water; you should always be
gathering information concerning your
surrounding topography.
4. The activity of local wildlife can be an
excellent guide to your proximity to water.

Sources of Water
In the Kalahari desert the bushmen live with
virtually no water at all. To supplement their
meagre supply of water they have learned to
search for substitutes; water found in roots for
example is extracted by grating the root and
then squeezing the gratings. The stomach
contents of recently-killed game can be drunk
for moisture and when the rains come, excess
water is collected and stored in ostrich eggs.
To a bushman every drop of water is precious,
when he wrings moisture out of a root every
drop is carefully directed along his thumb
into his mouth. It is highly unlikely that you
will ever know a thirst as great as his, but if
you do run short of water you can learn from
his adaptability. There are many sources of
water available to you if you are familiar with
them.
Dew. Dew is probably the most reliable of
all water sources, in fact many small creatures
rely upon it completely, even in some of the
most arid regions of the world. It begins to
condense on foliage and rocks just after sunset
and can be gathered until sunrise. To collect
it you need to improvise an absorbent mop,
this could be a T-shirt or bandana or a large
bundle of finely teased bark (not poisonous)
similar to that which you use for tinder.
Generally speaking, the larger the mop the
better; you will find that fitting a long
broom-like handle helps alleviate backache.
The best areas to gather dew are low lying
areas of grass or similar vegetation. Once the
mop is saturated, wring it out into a container
for purification. While dew itself is a pure
60

form of water, in the process of mopping it up
you will also be mopping up bacteria and
possibly parasites from the ground, so make
sure you boil it before drinking. This is an
underestimated source of water; with suitable
containers and good conditions a determined
person can gather several gallons quite easily.
Even under less favourable circumstances
sufficient quantities can be collected to
greatly increase your morale. If you have a
shelter sheet or large plastic bag with you
leave this out for the dew to collect on, if both
your mop and sheeting are clean you can
drink this water straight away.
Rain: Rain is usually the safest natural
source of water which can be collected by the
opportunistic backwoodsman. It can be
collected straight into a suitable container by
arranging a suitable collecting funnelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
basically any wide flat surface that the rain
can run off into a container. During World
War II the whole of Gibraltar was thus
supplied from two enormous rain traps. You
might use a suitably angled rock slab or large
broad leaves or a shelter sheet. Of course you
can also create rain reservoirs of water by
deepening existing puddles and damming
small streams (see Puddles). Whatever your
method of collection remember that your rain
water is only as pure as its container and your
gathering apparatus.
Snow: Snow is an interesting substance in
that you can be surrounded by it and yet be
struggling to provide yourself with water. The
problem is that it contains ten times as much
air as it does water, so for every pint of water
you will need to melt ten or so pints of snow.
Without a container which can be heated
over a fire this can pose a difficult problem.
However, clean white snow is a pure source of
water, which should not need boiling.
Eating snow does not make you go blind or
dehydrate you as some have suggested, but it
can take quite a lot of body heat to collect a
quantity of snow which will yield only a futile
amount of water. Avoid packing your container too tightly with snow when melting it
over a fire; it is an excellent insulator and it
has been known for aluminium mess tins to
burn through before the snow has melted.
Probably the best way to melt snow is to use
the eskimo method of creating a hot plate
which is angled slightly to allow melt water to
run into a carefully placed container. Another
eskimo method of obtaining water from snow

Because snow is mostly composed of air it can take much
energy to obtain sufficient quantities of water. If you melt
it down, do it slowly, and never pack the billy can tightly,
otherwise the snow will act as an insulator and you can
burn through the bottom of the can. Alternatively pack a
T-shirt with snow and allow it to melt slowly or use a
slanting hot plate.

was to fill a seal skin with snow which was
then suspended inside the shelter (where there
is plenty of warm air) and as the snow melted
it would drip through the skin into a
container. I have used this method several
times, substituting a T-shirt for the skinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
although the water does need purification!
Ice: Unlike snow, ice is not a pure source of
water; freezing is no guarantee that the
bacteria and other micro-organisms are dead.
Always boil ice water before consumption.
But unlike snow, ice consists solely of frozen
water so what you melt is what you get. There
is also virtually no risk of burning through the
bottom of your container. Ice can frequently
be found in the form of icicles hanging from
trees, if these are dark brown avoid them as
they will contain tannin which has leached
out of the bark. If on the other hand they are
only slightly stained, so long as you boil the
melt water you will be fine. In arctic
61

conditions, snow is generally more pure than
otherwise, but always collect new ice. Glacier
ice is another story altogether as are streams
of glacial meltwaters. As a glacier moves
across rock it gouges and grinds the rock,
becoming filled with minute particles of rock
dust. If drunk this sediment must be filtered
out or your stomach and intestine can be
damaged by the abrasive action of these
particles passing through the gut.
Puddles and hidden water: Muddy
puddles may not be the most beautiful wells
but they can provide you with your needs.
Very often they are the only reliable water
source that is easily accessible to the local
large mammals, drying up for only a short
period each year if at all. The water in these is
fine so long as it is purified.
In Britain the early farmers of chalk
downland devised ingenious dew ponds for
their upland herds. These were made by
digging large depressions out of the chalk
which were lined with straw and then clay, so
that they trapped and collected the dew.
Some of these dew traps are still functioning
today. The water from both these sources will
need to be filtered until the water is as clear as
possible before thoroughly boiling.
Stagnant water also comes into this category of drinkable water that may not look
good. Even after careful purification you may
not have removed the bad smell though, and
then there is only one thing to doâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;hold your
nose, close your eyes and swallow!
Rain water can also be found trapped in
rock depressions, often referred to as kettles. If
fresh (recently trapped) clear and cool, this
water is probably safe to drink, although it is
of course safer to boil it first. You may find
such rock kettles partially filled with decaying
plant matter but by clearing this out you can
easily produce a first-class rain reservoir. If
you travel frequently through an area of
backcountry which is sparsely supplied with
water or where the water takes considerable
effort to collect, consider creating natural
reservoirs. So long as you only enhance
existing natural features and leave no obvious
sign of your labour you can create a chain of
water holes along your route which may save
you long treks to a spring or stream.
Trees which are hollow or have hollows in
the folds of their branches and roots can
provide another source of trapped water. To
extract this you may need to improvise a

straw from a stalk of elder with the pith
removed. Very often however this water is too
contaminated with tannin to really be considered potable. This contamination shows as
a dark translucent brown stain in the water.
Tannin water such as this should not be
discarded though as it can be used as a first
rate antiseptic once it has been sterilised by
boiling. Slightly diluted and taken as a tea it
is also an effective remedy for diarrhoea. If
you find trapped water which is not badly
polluted by tannin purify it before consumption.
Note: Only gather water trapped by
non-poisonous trees. Common poisonous trees
which trap water are yew and holly.
Saps: During the early spring, the sap from
some trees can be tapped to obtain a
thirst-quenching drink. This sap is not a
long-term substitute for water as it has too
high a sugar content, however, it will help to
raise your morale and keep you alive until
you can find a more reliable source of water.
The fact that the sap is rising in the trees is a
good indicator that there is water available so
redouble your efforts to find it.
Of the trees that can be tapped for their
sap, the maple is the best, particularly the
sugar maple whose sap runs fast and long. In
the same family the sycamore can also be
tapped though I have found this to give much
less sap. For emergency purposes though you
can always fall back on the remarkable tree
which provides so much to outdoors folk, the
birch tree. This tree can be tapped like the
others during the early spring (the end of
March and the beginning of April are best),
especially after recent rain or thunder storms.
Choose only mature trees for tapping.
To tap a tree, make two diagonal slashes in
the bark about eighty centimetres above the
ground. Cut to form a 'V shape, with each
slash being about ten centimetres long, two
centimetres wide and deep enough to cut into
the sap wood layer (the cambium). Below
this, cut a vertical channel about ten centimetres long to feed the sap onto a ten centimetre
peg driven into a cut below the channel. This
peg should be angled downwards at about a
forty-five degree angle, and grooved to allow
the sap to run accurately into a container
placed below it. Without this peg the sap will
run away down the bole uselessly. It is
possible to put two taps in one tree, but if you
do this you must make certain that the bark is
62

lake, or estuary and ocean. As it makes its
long weary journey it becomes more and
more dirty. In our age of weedkillers and
chemical fertilisers we must regard all sources
of water from rivers upwards as polluted, and
avoid using them as sources of water for even
boiling does not purify chemically contaminated water; indeed in some cases it can
concentrate the chemicals.
Sea water and the sea shore: Salt water
is not a substitute for pure water. Because of
its high salt content, drinking it can actually
cause you to further dehydrate just as with
salt tablets. Along the sea shore you should be
able to find fresh water. Search for rockpools
after the tide has gone out and taste the
surface layer of water for its saltiness. Because
salt water is heavier than fresh water the top
few inches may be salt free or at least not so
salty as to do you any harm. Where there are
no rockpools and only a sandy shore you
should search above the high tide mark for
trapped water or saturated ground suitable
for the site of an Indian well, skim off the
surface water in these cases and taste it the
same as you would at a rockpool.
Poison water holes: Fortunately these
are extremely rare, but may be encountered
in some remote regions. Today you are far
more likely to find a water hole which has
been contaminated by industrial or agricultural pollution. Look for obvious signs such as
the remains of dead animals, a lack of healthy
water-loving vegetation. Rather more vague,
but every bit as valid, you may just have a
bad feeling about the place.

not cut all the way around the trunk as this
will kill the tree. An easy way to avoid this
problem is to stagger the taps at different
heights.
The Chippewa people of the Great Lakes
region of North America have for centuries
tapped maple and birch trees for their sap
which they then boiled down to produce
maple syrup and sugar, if you have the time,
the sap and the utensils you might also try
producing this delicacy.
Springs and seepages: If I only had a
pound for every time I have heard outdoors
folk refer to springs as guaranteed sources of
clean water, I would be a rich man. It seems
that because the water springs from the earth
it must be inherently blessed with purity. Of
course this is nonsense, whatever the water
source you must treat it as you find it and if
uncertain, purify it before consumption.
While most springs run with cold clear
water (coldness and clarity are not indicators
of water purity), some run with warm or even
hot water; the ideal breeding place for
waterborne bacteria. Warm water must always be purified before consumption.
Not all springs which you find bubble forth
from rock; many are no more than saturated
patches of ground. This does not pose too
great a problem though, as water can be
easily extracted from such ground by digging
an Indian well.
To make an Indian well, choose a patch of
saturated or damp ground and dig a round
hole about sixty centimetres in diameter and
the same depth; if you dig this hole at the
lowest point of the ground you have chosen,
the water can more easily drain into the well.
Soon you will find that the hole begins to fill
with murky water. Wait for it to fill nearly
completely and then bale this water out (if
you are desperate you can filter and purify
this water). The next filling of the well should
be less murky. Bail this out and allow it to fill
again. The well will fill less quickly with each
bailing but if you are careful not to disturb
the sides of the well as you bail out the water
should run clear after two or three emptyings.
The bottom layer of water will always be
murky but the top water can be carefully
ladled out and should be nearly as clear as tap
water.
Streams, rivers and lakes: Rain falls on
the land, it seeps into gullies and gathers pace
as it grows from brook to stream to river to

Purifying Water
In the world of woodlore every skill is linked
to every other; it is impossible to learn one
skill without recourse to another, and so it is
with water. THE ONLY SAFE WAY TO
PURIFY WATER IS TO BOIL IT THOROUGHLY. To boil water you are going to
need fire, and more likely than not a suitable
container. For those who have studied survival techniques and practised them, this
should not provide too great a problem,
although it will take some time. But for those
who have not perfected these skills, pure
water may seem out of your reach tempting
you to risk drinking unpurified water; unfortunately there are no short cuts in nature.
Our health is something we tend to take for
granted when we have skilled doctors and
63

powerful, quick-acting synthetic drugs at our
disposal. But in the bush, removed from these
advantages, the simplest of infections can
prove fatal. Consider the full implications of
developing a simple case of diarrhoea. This
infection causes a rapid and unpleasant
dehydration of your system; it makes you feel
uncomfortable, lowers your morale and generally makes a safe standard of personal
hygiene difficult to maintain. To counteract
the effects you will need to drink plenty of
pure water; if you were short of this to start
with you are in trouble. Under such circumstances maintaining the will to get yourself
out of the situation, or in extreme cases to live,
can be very difficult.
There are a number of different waterborne
infections, and some of them can cause
problems far more debilitating than diarrhoea. Some of them do not respond to the
effects of chemical purifying agents. For this
reason, to purify your water, boil it for at least
five minutes. The general rule is to boil water
furiously for five minutes plus an extra minute
for every thousand feet you are above sea
level.
Containers for water are described in
Chapter Eleven. When it comes to purifying
water there are basically two types of container:
1. Kettles which are used directly over the
heat source. These can be manufactured from
flammable materials so long as the flames
cannot reach beyond the level of the water
which prevents their consumption.
2. Cauldrons which will hold hot water
but cannot be used over a fire. In the case of
these vessels the water is heated by dropping
heated stones into the water. This is an
effective and easy way to cook, but you must
choose your stones carefully. They must be of
an easily manageable size and weight and
collected from dry ground (stones which are
damp or have been sitting on a riverbed
contain moisture which when heated expands
causing the stone to explode. Also avoid
glass-like rocks such as flint or obsidian as
these also explode). Heat the rocks until they
are hot, brush off any ash (or quickly rinse
this off in some other water) and then transfer
them to the cauldron using suitably improvised tongs. The ash is rinsed off to prevent
the water you are boiling becoming too
alkaline.
Apart from the cauldrons already men-

tioned you can also use hollows in trees as
cauldrons or even make a gypsy cauldron: a
bowl dug out of clay and lined with broad
non-poisonous leaves. The water from this
cauldron is less safe than the other methods
and tastes awful but is a simple emergency
technique.
Filtering water If the water you have
gathered contains sediment it will need,
filtering before boiling. This is a relatively
simple operation; the easiest filter to improvise is that using your trousers. Turn one
trouser leg inside of the other so you have a
double thickness of cloth and tie a knot in the
end. Arrange this filter on a frame suspended
over your container and soak the cloth before
use. Fill the trouser filter with dirty water,
leave the first part of the filtrate to run
through before collecting. If, despite several
times through the filter, the water has still not
cleared, fill the trouser filter with cold
charcoal NOT ASH.
Should you find yourself without trousers a
filter can be made from a large cone of birch
bark filled with charcoal and finely teased
non-poisonous plant material. Perforate the
outside of the cone with tiny holes.
Rehydrating
Once you have found and purified your
water, do not drink it down too fast or you
may make yourself sick. This is especially true
of very cold water which can be a shock to
your system. It is very dangerous to gulp
down icy water if you are still hot from hard
physical exertion, sip your water until your
body has had time to adjust to the cold or
better still brew a warming mug of tea.

There are many times I must admit when I
have not bothered to purify my water, and to
date I have not been struck down by any bugs
my stomach could not handle. But there are
also times when for no good reason I can give,
other than perhaps an instinct, I have insisted
on purifying my water. Above all trust your
instinctsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but if in doubt boil. On one
backcountry hike with two very experienced
outdoors friends one of them came down with
a case of Giardia, a particularly nasty
micro-organism (resistant to chemical purification agents, but killed by boiling). We were
all drinking from the same water source and

As a general rule though, always gather
water from the purest source available to you,
always purify it and don't be lulled into a false
sense of security by crystal clear water.

didn't boil the water; he was just unlucky.
However, we all paid the price as we walked
along behind him, as severe flatulence is one
of the symptoms of this unpleasant and
potentially very serious illness.

Skimming off clean water from an Indian well.

Using a millbank bag to filter
sediment from water.

Using heated rocks to boil water in an animal hide.

Tannin water found in tree hollows.

65

The correct way to tap the sap from
a birch tree, with a watertight bark
container.

Plants
'With the Indians generally, medicinal barks, roots, and
herbs are thought essentials in their household contents. Even
in their journeys, such are most likely to be wanted as part of
their necessary outfits.'
(From Memoirs of a Captivity among The Indians of North America

by John Dunn Hunter)

Already in the skills of fire lighting, shelter
building and water procurement, it has
become evident that the ability to recognise
trees and plants is important. But more than
this, they can provide you with food containers, cordage, tools, medicine and even
clothing; the more plants you can recognise
and know the value of, the better equipped
you will be to travel. To begin a study of
plants is to set foot on an endless path of
growth and learning. Whether you study
plants of utility or those of beauty you will
enhance your vision of the natural world by
their study. If you watch a party of ramblers,
you will easily spot those who have befriended
the plant world, for where other members of
the party have passed straight by, they pause
to acknowledge the presence of friends. You
may think that I am anthropomorphising
weeds, but every spring as the snows recede
and the green of grass shows again I look
forward to meeting plants of long aquaintance as they re-emerge for the growing
season, precisely as I might look forward to
seeing again a friend who has been away
travelling for many months. This is not so
strange: after all, a plant is a living
organismâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like you or Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;so in a way they are
brothers.

first encounter with wild edible plants. After
several months of reading about the various
wild foods available in my locality, I found a
pocket-sized field guide in the local library
which contained photographs rather than
drawings. Having been brought up, like most
people, to fear wild plants as poisonous, I
wasn't taking any chances. Armed with
suitable books for cross reference, and with
the photographic field guide I set out on my
first plant hunt, excited by the preparations.
I did not need to go far before I found
plants which I suspected were edible. There
was a lacy white-flowered plant which I
thought was probably cow parsley but was
put off by my guide telling me that it could
easily be confused with the deadly hemlock.
The day was warm and bright and the sounds
and smells of the season drew me into the
dappled shade of the woodland. As I moved
along the trail I was careful not to make any
careless sounds or movements, hoping to
catch a glimpse of the local fox sunbathing on
her favourite fallen tree. Ahead of me I
noticed something blue movingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it was a
fledgling jay that had not quite mastered the
fundamentals of flight. I watched absorbed as
after great effort it took off, and managed a
wobbly flight to a low oak branch. After a few
minutes and a few perilous flights it was safe
in the higher branches and the parent birds

I first became seriously interested in plants
in my early teens. I can well remember my
66

returned to feed the wayward youngster.
Hoping to find some interesting tracks, I
stopped to scrutinise the spot I had first seen
the young bird, but there was nothing except
a downy feather. And then I noticed it. A
small clump of emerald green, clover-like
leaves, still clad in droplets of dew. It did not
take long to find the plate in the field guide
that matched: Oxalis Acetosela (wood sorrel),
contains oxalic acid but is edible in small
quantities. With great trepidation I carefully
selected a couple of the tenderest young leaves
and ate them. To my surprise and pleasure
the leaves tasted just like apple peel and from
that moment on I have been hooked on wild
plants for food—even though not all taste as
pleasant as wood sorrel! As I walked home
that day I felt different as though I had just
been accepted into an exclusive club and even
now, when I discover a new plant I feel as
though the plant has revealed itself to me
rather than I have sought it out.

to describe Epilobium augustifolia which is an
edible and useful species, more usually known
as 'Fireweed' or 'Rosebay Willowherb'. As
you can see, even within the same country,
local names can vary widely even between
edible and poisonous plants, so always double
check your research using the scientific name.
However learning to recognise plant species is not as simple as just looking them up in
a field guide. Even the best guides with clear
photographs or botanical drawings suffer
from being two dimensional, and the text—
no matter how carefully crafted—is woefully
inadequate for describing a plant's subtler
characteristics such as scent, taste, texture or
even the sound the leaves make as you brush
past them. The best way to learn about plants
is to accompany an expert in the field
learning a few at a time. For survival purposes
you must be able to identify the plant at all
stages of its development; not just when it is in
flower. Pay extra careful attention to the fine
details. When I introduce a group of students
to plants there are those who from the start
examine the species in detail and those who
give them only a fleeting glimpse. When later
in the day I compare the details of a
poisonous plant to one of the plants covered
earlier there is an obvious look of panic in the
eyes of those who did not pay adequate
attention. Fortunately I am able to recap
what was seen earlier, but when you are in the
company of an old herbalist or tree expert
such luxuries are rare. Train yourself to
absorb all that is said and to look more closely
at the fine detail. There are a number of
occasions I have been fortunate enough to
have spent a few hours in the company of real
plant experts—old country folk who grew up
surrounded by traditional herbal remedies
and woodcraft the source of which must
stretch back many centuries. On such forays I
found that I would start thinking of the
implications of what they had said and in so
doing not absorb fully what they were saying.
I could kick myself when I cannot remember
the fine details of remedies to ills which they
used. With rural families dispersed to the
urban jungle the old ways are struggling to
stay alive. If you have the opportunity to
listen to the reminiscences of a member of the
older generation take a tape recorder with
you!

Learning to Recognise Plants
In the modern age, science has greatly
simplified the process of identifying plant
species using standardised terminology to
describe their form and labelling. Each
species with a scientific name and classification. Absolutely essential to your study of
plant species will be suitable scientific field
guides. All of these books should explain how
their identification key works. Make sure you
thoroughly familiarise yourself with this. As
you study plants, use the scientific name for
reference purposes; in most cases this is the
standard name for a plant species throughout
the world. This is not a fanciful notion but a
very practical and important part of your
learning. Local names are often an excellent
way to learn a plant's characteristics or where
it grows, but they can sometimes be very
confusing. For example 'Jack by the hedge'
which is the country name for Alliaria petiolata
derives from the fact that this edible species
frequently grows by hedges and smells of
garlic as in folklore did the devil, or 'Jack's
breath'. Another country name is 'Old man's
beard' which usually refers to the seed down
produced by Clematis vitalba a poisonous
plant, however I have come across the same
country name 'Old man's beard' being used

Plants for Food
Unlike most other forms of wild food, plants
cannot run away from you; which makes
them the ideal first source of food for a
survivor. The golden rule for wild foods and
particularly edible plants is: ONLY EAT A
WILD FOOD YOU HAVE POSITIVELY
IDENTIFIED AS EDIBLE. This means you
must learn the plants before you are forced to
rely upon them. This is not as daunting a task
as it may at first appear as in truth you can
get by in most parts of the world relying upon
a handful of the most useful and commonly
occurring plants. Under no circumstances
rely upon so called 'taste tests' often quoted as
a reliable way to differentiate poisonous from
edible plants. There is no safe short cut to
learning your plant species.
When you are studying an edible plant,
make a mental note of its taste and smell, the
texture of its leaves, even the sound they make
underfoot. I prefer my students to use their
minds for storing this information rather than
recording it in a notebook. This is the old way
of teaching; to make notes you are using a
valuable part of your concentration to write.
Train yourself to absorb all the details of the
plant received by your many senses. If it is
edible, eat it, this is the best way to fix that
information permanently in your head. If you
learn the edible species really thoroughly and
stick only to those you have learned, there is
little or no reason to study the poisonous
varieties. However, the ideal situation is to be
able to recognise them when you see them, so
I have listed below the common and most
dangerous varieties you should familiarise
yourself with. This list is far from
comprehensive.

Giant Hogweed

Soapwort

Spindlebush

Preparing the Edible Parts
In general, wild plants require more preparation than the cultivated forms we are most
used to; this is in most cases a labour and
time-intensive activity. While many can be
eaten raw some retain poisonous characteristics until prepared in a specific way or cooked.
This chapter is specifically concerned with the
gathering and preparation prior to cooking
(see chapter ten). Before you begin to collect
edible plants you must decide what your aim
is to be. Are you gathering food for one meal
or as part of a long-term diet? If the latter,
you will need to concentrate your efforts on

Woody nightshade

69

brewing.
Flours: Wild flours can be produced from
many different plant sources, the best being
cattails and acorns. Prepared flour is not
always easy to store under survival conditions. Ideally you will need to store it in a clay
pot with a lid. Acorns are better stored whole
than as prepared flour. To grind up the flour
you may need to use grinding stones, a
smaller stone used to grind against a slightly
hollowed larger stone or log mortar.
Extracting roots: Some of the edible
roots listed below cling tenaciously to the
ground: many of the most useful are so
because of their resilience to drought and
cold. To survive under these conditions they
send down deep roots. To help in gathering
these plants you should fashion a digging
stick. This can be of any length or size, though
I find a metre long and three to four
centimetres in diameter is the most useful.
Sharpen the point with a chisel-shaped end
and fire harden it. Use this to pull the soil
away from the root rather than trying to lever
the root up as though using a fork. This
process means that you will have to dig a
larger hole than you bargained for. When you
have finished replace the soil and add in some
seed from the plants, or a neighbouring
plant's seed head.

gathering the plants which will yield the most
nutrition with a heavy emphasis on carbohydrate and sugar-rich underground parts.
Wherever possible, plan your food stocks to
complement any fish or game you are able to
gather. Remember the old adage 'An army
marches on its stomach'! Try to conceive
exciting tasty meals and gather your groceries
accordingly. Always bear in mind that while
you gather your food resource you must also
husband that resource, never denude an area
of wild plants. Australian aborigines
sometimes even leave behind part of each
edible root they gather to grow again. When
you have the opportunity help seeds to take
root by bringing them into direct contact with
soil. Along some of my favourite trails I have
encouraged the local plants to grow especially
the edible and utility varieties, although not
to the exclusion of others.
The following are the preparation techniques you should be familiar with:
Making infusions: Infusions are made by
steeping the plant material in water which
can be cold or warm but never boiling.
(Boiling destroys the ingredient you are
trying to activate.) Teas should be infused
using water just off the boil.
Making decoctions: Decoctions are made
by boiling the plant material to release its
active ingredients.
Boiling greens: Whenever boiling greens
it is important not to use too much water, use
just enough to cover the plant material. If you
use more water than this you will lose much of
the mineral and vitamin value of the plant.
Of course this is not the case with soups and
stews. Plants that are excessively bitter tasting
may need several changes of water. In this
case more water can be used initially.
Steaming: Steaming is preferable to
boiling in all cases, except those where bitter
flavours need to be boiled away with water
changes. The plant material will need
steaming in relation to its size and density;
leaves need much less steaming time than do
roots and fruits. A good way to use leaves such
as tender beech or sheep surrel leaves is as
stuffing for meat and fish that is being
steamed.
Making coffees: Wild coffees, such as
acorn coffee, are usually far less concentrated
than commercial coffee, so greater quantities
must be used in the brew. Infuse the coffee;
boiling will make it more bitter as will over

Useful Plants
Below is a list of useful plants for the
temperate region with instructions on how to
prepare and use them. I have not attempted
to give any detailed description of the species
although some of the more important species
are shown in photographs. To use this list you
will need to back it up with one or more field
guides to aid you to a correct identification or
better still visit a botanical garden to study
these species. Those followed by an asterisk
are commonly found in the U.K.
Agave, Century Plant, Mescal (Agave
spp.): Agave leaves can be pounded to
produce cordage fibres, and if cut cleanly at
both ends, water can be drained out of them.
But most importantly the young flowering
shoot which rises from the rosette of spiky
leaves can be eaten. This must be cooked
before consumption. The native method is to
gather the young stems just after they have
emerged but before they have started to
70

flower. These are then cut into suitable-sized
lengths and steamed or roasted in a pit oven
to produce a fibrous sugary brown mass. This
is highly nutritious and sweet tasting. Agave
stems can also be effectively dried for longterm storage.
Alder: (Alnus glutinosa)*: Alder is a light,
easily-carved wood, but its greatest value is as
a treatment for upset stomachs. Prepare a
weak infusion from the bark.
Alfalfa (Medicago saliva)*: This highly
nutritious plant is very rich in vitamins A, D
and K. Washed, it can be used as part of a
backwoods salad. Alternatively it can be
dried and used by infusion for tea mixtures. It
is not really flavourful enough to stand alone
as a tea, so try mixing it with rose hip tea.
Amaranth ('Amaranthus spp): This plant
was used by native peoples as a salad plant
although it is on the bitter end of palatability.
To overcome this, boil the tenderest young
leaves as a pot herb. Later in the year the
plant carries heavy quantities of seeds which
can be gathered and used for flour or gruel.
Some of the tribes of the south-western U.S.
cultivated the plant for these seeds.
Angelica, Alexanders (Angelica sylvestris)*: A member of the umbellifer family
recognisable by its umbrella-like flower heads
with stems reminiscent of celery and parsleylike leaves, which contains some highly toxic
species (see poisonous plants). Care must be
used in the identification of this plant.
Growing near water and marshy ground, its
bold round flower heads have a light pink
tinge; the stems are hollow and downy. The
major distinguishing feature is the inflated or
swollen sheathing petioles of the small upper
leaves on the stem. Cook the peeled stems in
several changes of water or cook the tender
young roots. This is a good last minute
addition to a backwoods stew.
Apple, Crab (Malus sylvestris)*, Apple,
American Crab (Pyrus spp): These miniature precursors to our cultivated varieties
tend to be too sharp for eating raw. They can
however be cooked by roasting or boiling into
a mush and used in much the same way as
sugar for flavouring other wild foods. Cut out
any spoiled or wormy parts before cooking. If
you have flour, they can be used to make an
apple pie, or as I like them, used as a stuffing
in wild game which is steamed. Apple pips
should always be discarded as they contain
cyanide; this is not normally a problem, but

in survival situations where you may be
consuming unusual amounts, is potentially
dangerous.
Arrowhead (Sagittaria spp)*: Growing at
pond margins and in marshy ground, these
species gain their name from the distinctive
arrow-head-shaped leaf. These plants are a
very important source of food for a survivor.
The tubers can be gathered from the muddy
ooze in which they grow from autumn to
early spring, the native method being to wade
for them, with bare feet acting as gathering
hands. This is not always the chilly business it
may seem since the mud at the pond edge is
full of decaying humus and usually quite
warm. When there is ice on the water you will
find an improvised rake more effective. The
tubers on average are slightly smaller than a
golf ball. They are not palatable when raw
but are fine tasty fare when cooked. For
cooking treat them in the same ways as you
would a potato: boil, roast, bake, mash etc.
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus): Very similar to the wild sunflower, the
Jerusalem Artichoke grows to 2â&#x20AC;&#x201D;3 metres tall.
It is the tuber that can be eaten. This should
be gathered from late autumn to early spring.
These are about the size of an average potato
and can be eaten raw or cooked in all the
same ways as a potato. Where it occurs this is
an important survival food.
Ash (Fraxinus spp)*: The Sioux nation
refer to this as weapon wood, or old smelling
wood. Both are accurate descriptions of this
wonderwood. Ash is straight grained, flexible
and strong, especially resilient to shocks. It
can be used for making bows, spears, clubs
and bowls; the thin shavings make strong
bindings and the growth rings of the tree can
be separated by soaking and pounding for
basket weaving. The keys (seeds) can also be
eaten as an emergency food. The leaves can
also be used as a compress for infected
wounds.
Aspen (Populus spp): The leaves and bark
of the aspen can be used in decoction for
treating wounds and burns as an antiseptic.
Wood avens, Herb bennet (Geum urbanum)*: Wood avens is a humble trailside
plant of shady woods. As a child it long
fascinated me, and it came as no surprise
when I learned that it has healing properties.
In folklore it was reputed to ward off bad
spirits a common association with antiseptic
plants, which this plant is. The fresh flowering
71

72

73

herb or dried and powdered root can be used
as an infusion for cuts, sores and grazes. A
weak infusion (1 teaspoon to a cup) was
formerly used for stomach upsets and diarrhoea although I would not recommend that
you self medicate internally without expert
tuition. The roots of wood avens have a
clove-like scent when bruised or broken and
can be used as an alternative to clove spices.
Wood avens was formerly used as an alternative to quinnine.
Bamboo: Easily recognisable, this grows in
thickets, in clearings and particularly along
the banks of streams in temperate regions. An
extremely useful material, it does not reach
the size of the tropical varieties. The young
shoots which emerge quickly and in profusion
after heavy rains can be eaten. Take only the
soft tips and remove the protective hairy
sheaths. All of the hairs must be removed as
they are an irritant to the human digestive
tract. Before eating, the shoots must be well
boiled; they may need several boilings before
they are palatable depending upon the species
and local conditions.
Basswood and Lime trees ( Tilia spp) *:
The outer bark from these trees has been used
as roofing material and the inner bark makes
excellent cordage. The wood can be used for
friction firelighting with drills and saws. The
flower used in a cold infusion is used to treat
headaches
Spanish Bayonet (Yucca aloifolia): see
Yucca.
Beech (' Fagus sylvatica), American Beech
(Fagus grandifolia) /Young beech leaves
glowing a yellow emerald green always signal
the arrival of summer for me. They are also a
tasty addition to a backwoods salad or
stuffing for a steamed fish. Beech leaf sandwiches are also very good. But it is the autumn
harvest of beech nuts that is the most useful of
all. The nut kernels which are rich in fat and
protein can be eaten raw or roasted; they can
be dried for flour or used as a coffee substitute.
The only problem is that compared to other
nuts they take at least twice the effort to
prepare.
Bilberry,
Blueberry,
Huckleberry

inclusion in biscuits and soups.
Birch (Betula spp) *: The Native American
Indians considered plants the 'standing people' each plant belonging to a tribe, each with
its own unique features just like humans.
Looked at in this way, the birch tree is one of
the friendliest of all the standing people,
providing us with firelighting materials, containers, glue, building materials, water, sugar,
food, medicine and splinting. As mentioned in
the water chapter, the sap from the birch can
be collected in the spring, this can be
processed for sugar in the same way as maple
sap. In really hard times the inner bark can
be gathered and dried for grinding into an
emergency flour. The washed young twigs of
birch can be used to produce an infusion
which has stomach settling properties. The
dried leaves have also been used for this
purpose. The bark can be used rolled into a
tube as a first-class splint.
Bistort (Polygonum bistorta)*: Common in
damp upland meadows, this plant can be
used as a salad plant or cooked in amongst
other food stuffs such as stew or soup. The
roots can also be eaten but must first be
soaked and then roasted. However, the root is
far more useful as a medicine. Dried and
powdered it can be used as a dry powder or in
an infusion to treat external cuts and
bleeding. Infusions or decoctions have strong
astringent and antidiarrhoeal properties. It
was commonly used in Europe to treat snake
bites and by Native American Indians for
stings and insect bites.
Blackberry, bramble (Rubus fructicosus)*: Apart from the common uses of the
edible fruit the brambles leaves can be dried
to make an excellent tea substitute. They can
also be used in infusion to treat stomach
problems and coughs. Bramble stems can also
be crushed and split to remove the pithy core
for strong cordage fibres.
Bog myrtle, Sweet gale (Myrica gale)*:
Occurring as a shrub in the boggy wetlands, it
has a leathery grey-green narrow leaf. This is
the fabled midge repellent used by Scottish
ghillies who rub juice from the leaves on the
skin. In my experience this offers little or no
relief from the little biters but then neither do
the most potent modern repellents. Dried,/he
leaves can be used to make a subtle /tea.
Unlike many other wild teas this one is very
strong if you are not careful. The first time I
made this tea my taste buds were knocked

(Vaccinium spp*, Gaylussacia spp.): No trailside

nibble is tastier on a hot day than a bilberry,
but as a survival food its only real value is its
flavour. It can be cooked into a tasty
morale-boosting drink which should be
cooled before drinking, or it can be dried for
74

senseless by its strength; I had used too many
leaves and steeped them for much too long.
Bullace (Prunus domestica): The forerunner
to the modern cultivated plums, this delicious
succulent slightly tart fruit is one of Nature's
greatest gifts. As always discard the stone, and
then eat it raw or cook it or even split it open
for drying. This fruit is an excellent trail
nibble once dried. It can be cooked in a pie or
the dried fruit can be included in biscuit
mixes.
Bulrush

Burreed ( Sparaganium euricarpum, Spara-

ganium erectum)*: Growing amongst rushes
and cattails at pond margins and marshes this
is a difficult plant to mistake. The tuber can
be cooked in the same ways described for the
bulrush.
Wild carrot (Daucus carota)*: A member
of the umbellifer family which includes some
extremely poisonous plants. Although care
must be taken identifying this species, this
plant has a convenient way of identifying
itself since in the centre of its white flower
head is a single purple flower. It is unmistakable. The root is a cream colour and nowhere
near as large as its cultivated cousin, but it is
edible. It is best to include it in a stew.
Cattail, greater readmace ( Typha latifolia,)*: The cattail is one of the most important, if not the most important plant for
survivors. It can be used to provide tinder, fire
drills, cordage, basketry materials but most
importantly of all it provides food all year
round. Cattails, often mistakenly called bulrushes, are commonly found at pond and
stream margins and generally boggy ground.
They norrnally grow in extensive clumps
which may also harbour the nests of waterfowl perhaps containing eggs.
In the winter the cattail rootstock which
can usually be quite easily pulled up, can be
used to produce a nutritious flour. Scrape the
roots clean of any leeches and general boggy
detritus. Now peel them to reveal the core.
Crush and pull these apart in a large
container of water. The water will become
murky and milky as the starch in the root is
separated from the fibres. Once the fibres are
well washed, remove them and repeat the
process with more fresh fibres until the water
is very milky. Now leave the starch to settle
and separate out from the water. The water
can then be poured off and the whitish residue
allowed to dry. Add more clean water and stir
the mixture up to wash it. You may need to
repeat this several times before you achieve a
pure white residue. Once the residue has
settled and as much of the water poured off as
is possible, it can be used to make drop scones
by simply mixing the flour with water into a
runny batter and pouring it onto a hot stone.
As they cook try dropping into the mixture
some dried fruit.
In early spring the cattail begin to send up
new shoots. These can be peeled and steamed,
or lightly boiled for a tender meal. They are

(Scirpus acutus, Scirpus validus):

This plant of biblical fame (not to be confused
with Typha spp) was providing men with food
long before the Bible was written. The tips of
the rootstock are rich in starch and sugar;
they can be dried and pounded into flour or
roasted and eaten. They usually need about
three hour's roasting before they are really
edible and do not taste like potatoes, having
their own rooty flavour. The young shoots
and the core at the base of the stem are also
edible. While they can both be eaten raw I
always boil, or even better, steam them.
Bulrushes also produce sufficient quantities of
pollen and seeds to make both worth gathering. Pollen is highly nutritious and can be
cooked as a gruel or used to bolster wild
flours.
Burdock (Arctium lappa, Arctium minus)*:

Burdock is an important edible plant for
survival. Its tender young leaves are rich in
vitamins and can be cooked as a pot herb. But
most important of all it has a large
carbohydrate-rich root. Being a biennial
plant its life cycle takes two years to complete.
In year one it produces a small cluster of
leaves close to the ground; these enable it to
gain energy from the sun which is stored in
the root as starch and sugar. In the second
year it uses this stored energy to send up a
flowering stem between i and i .8 metres tall.
It is the energy-rich first-year root that is of
use to the survivor. This root extends straight
down into the soil and can be very difficult to
remove. To cook the root the thick rind must
be removed before a long steaming or boiling
with several changes of water until it loses its
tough fibrousness. The root can also be fried
but I find the best backwoods use is to include
it as part of a soup or stew. The large broad
leaves can be used for poultice wrappings and
even water scoops or sun hats, and a section of
the dried stem can be lashed to a straight
hardwood stick for use as a hand-drill fireset.
75

77

struggled to construct his shelter. It can also
be used in infusion as a mild antiseptic.
Gather the plant in flower (preferably) and
dry it in shade.
Cherries (Prunus avium* P. Virginiana, P.
serotina): Cherry trees contain prunasin, a
cyanogenic glycoside which is particularly
concentrated in the leaves and seeds (being
most potent in dry years, and in Prunus
serotina, the black cherry). For this reason all
cherry pits (stones) should be discarded and
preferably the fruit should be cooked. Most of
the wild cherry species are too bitter for
consumption raw in any case. The way I
usually use wild cherries is dried and incorporated in pemmican.
Horse Chestnut and buckeyes (Aesculus
spp)*: A hard wood which resists decay, it
makes for good firewood and can be carved
into beautiful bowls and containers. The fruit
is poisonous but the wood can be used safely
for cooking utensils.
Chickweed (Stellaria media)*: Chickweed
can be used as part of a salad or used as a pot
herb. It does however contain saponins so
should not be consumed in large quantities.
Because of its saponin content it can be used
as a soap plant (see soapwort).
Chicory, wild succory (Cichorium intybus)*: The most commonly used part of the
chicory plant is the swollen root which is
roasted until brown and then ground up and
used as coffee; this coffee is very bitter. In
Europe the roots were forced in warmth and
darkness to produce chicons, bleached stems
which were a popular salad ingredient. You
can achieve more or less the same by
gathering the leaves where they disappear
underground. The green tender leaves of the
plant can be used as a pot herb.
Chufa, nut grass (Cyperus usculentus):
This plant is common to many parts of the
world from the temperate steppe to the
tropical rainforests. The tubers spread out
from the base of the stem, each ending in a
small tuber just slightly larger then a large
acorn. The rind on these tubers must be
removed before consumption; they can be
eaten raw or can be boiled if unpleasantly
dry. These tubers can also be dried and
ground up for flour. A cold drink can be
produced by soaking the tubers and then
crushing them in clean water, or they can be
roasted and used as coffee.
Goosegrass, cleavers (Galium aparine)*:

edible raw but it is better to cook them in case
they contain any parasites. These shoots grow
rapidly into stalks which can be gathered and
peeled for eating in this way until they are
about half a metre tall.
By late spring the green flower spikes are
beginning to emerge from a sheath of
protective leaves. These can be collected and
boiled, or steamed and eaten in the same way
as corn on the cob.
By summer the flower heads have matured
and are heavy with a protein-rich pollen. This
can be gathered by bending the flowerhead
over a basket and tapping them with a stick.
Large quantities of this pollen can easily be
gathered in this way. Dried, it can be stored
for use as gruel or mixed in with rootstock
flower.
As the wheel of the year turns full circle,
cattails send out finger-size horn-shaped
shoots from the base of the root stock. These
can be collected and boiled for food. The
rootstock to which they are attached is also
edible if prepared like a potato. While good
emergency food, I find this to be an acquired
taste.
I have also heard of the ripened seed heads
being burned to separate out the seeds from
the down, but find this less practical and a
waste of the downâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one of the most useful
parts of the plant. Down can not only be used
as tinder, but is important as an absorbent
dressing for wounds.
Do not confuse the root of the wild iris
for that of cattails. This is an easy mistake
for the tenderfoot to make and if in doubt
taste a small piece of the root. Cattails should
be virtually tasteless; iris tastes quite
disgusting.
Cedar ( Thuja spp): Cedar is a very useful
wood. It can be used for making bows and
building materials, and is very suitable for
steam-bending. On the northwest coast of
America the native inhabitants would steambend large planks of cedar to make cooking
boxes. The bark has many uses for cordage
and basket weaving. The wood is also a good
choice for friction firelighting. The inner bark
has also been made into ilour in times of
famine
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)*:A familiar name from the shelves of. herbal teas in
a health shop. Chamomile tea has soothing
and calming effects, easing a good night's
sleep for the muscle-weary survivor who has
78

The name cleavers comes from this plant's
habit of cleaving to your clothes as you pass
by; a walk through summer undergrowth
where this plant is in residence will cover you
in the small green seeds which cling like
velcro. But this is an easy way to gather a
coffee, for those seeds roasted and ground up
make a coffee substitute. The sticky green
stems of this plant before it goes to seed can be
used as a pot herb when cooked like spinach,
although they are not the best.
Coltsfoot (Tu.nlago farfara)*: Coltsfoot is
a multifaceted plant for the survivor; its
young flower buds, flowers and leaves can be
added to salads. The leaves can be dried and
used in decoction as an antiseptic or tea. They
can also be burned to produce a salt-like
seasoning, although in my experience this has
a stronger charcoal flavour than salty flavour.
In the bush on the move, this is one of the
native warrior's medicine plants: a cut or
wound could be treated by washing the leaf
and then crushing it up before application to
the wound as an antiseptic. Although scorned
upon by modern medical practice, the natural way to accomplish this was to simply chew
the leaf and then spit it on.
Dandelion ( Taraxacum qfficinale) * ;
Medicinally the humble dandelion is greatly
valued for its soothing effect upon the
digestive system. As a stimulant for appetite it
makes a nutritious part of any backwoods
feast. The plant contains vitamins A, B and C.
All parts are edible; the leaves can be eaten
raw or cooked as greens, as can the root. The
root of a large dandelion can be as large as an
adult's finger. The most common use for the
dandelion is the roasted and ground root
which is a coffee substitute. The leaves are
tasty raw.
Dock (Rum ex obtusifolius)*: There was a
time when every British school boy or girl
knew that the dock leaf can be used to ease
the sting of a nettle, but times have changed.
The dock leaf is a common and useful plant;
its tenderest young leaves can be cooked as
spinach. To use the dock leaf to relieve
stinging nettle stings it is no use just rubbing
the leaf on the stings as most people do, as
hardly any of the plants juices are released in
this way. Instead, rub the leaf between your
palms quite vigorously until the juices are
released, and then smear this onto the stings.
After a few seasons' gathering nettles for
cordage and food, you will hardly notice their

sting.
Elder (Sambucus nigra)*: Elder is another
one of those especially useful plants for the
survivor. As a food plant it is of very little use:
the green leaves, stem, roots and fruit are all
poisonous. The flowers and ripe fruit however
can be eaten. The flowers can be dipped in
batter and fried as fritters; batter can be
obtained from wild flours. The berries contain
important vitamins and minerals and despite
their small size can be gathered easily in large
quantities. Raw, they are foul smelling and
tasting, but lose this disagreeable characteristic when cooked or dried. They are especially
good dried and added to pemmican or
backwoods drop scones.
As a utility plant the elder wins its spurs; it
grows straight tall shoots sometimes up to two
metres long. With careful management it is
possible to ensure that a particular shoot
grows straight and true, I once so managed a
shoot over several years to make a blowpipe.
The shoots are of a dense hard wood with a
soft pithy core, this can be pushed out to make
a drinking tube (SEASONED WOOD), or
an inspiring straw for blowing a slow fire to
life. But probably the most important use is as
a hand-drill fire-starting drill. A dry,
seasoned, elder shoot is just about the best
hand drill there is, but even when it can only
be had green, it is still useful. A short length of
another fire-starting wood which is dry
enough can be pushed into the pith of a
well-lashed elder shoot. This is particularly
useful as the chances of finding a short length
of suitable wood are far greater than finding a
long section.
Medicinally, elder flower when taken as an
infusion has been used for creating a sweat.
Ground ivy, gill over the ground
(Glechoma hederacea): Ground ivy is not to be
confused with wood ivy trailing along the
ground. In fact it bears no resemblance to
wood ivy whatsoever. A small plant with
lavender flowers, it makes a strong herbal tea
when dried or the young shoots can be used as
a salad ingredient or better still a pot herb; it
makes a good addition for soups and stews.
Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea* S. odora):
The dried leaves of these plants can be
brewed for a liquorice-like tea. The flowering
tops can be used in infusion to treat cuts and
abrasions as well as burns.
Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonushenricus)*: 'Good King Henry and the
79

You can always recognise those who have learned to make friends with plants.

Goosefoots' may sound like a sixties rock
group but they are in fact the best wild greens
that the survivor can find. The others include
Lambs Quarters, Red Goosefoot and the
Common and Spearleaved Oraches. The
seeds from these plants can also be used as
seasoning for soup, cooked with water into a
nourishing gruel or even gathered for flour
making. But the most important use of this
plant is as a cooked green, boiled or best of all
steamed. If you have backwoods flour available, try mixing some steamed and slightly
dried and diced goosefoot with it before
cooking on a hot stone as a savoury
dropscone.
Ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria)*:
This plant is a member of the umbellifer
family, having a distinctive white umbrellashaped flower head. It is difficult to mistake
for the poisonous umbellifers; its leaves are
very similar in shape to those of the elder,
hence its name. Rarely more than a metre
tall, it likes the shady conditions of the edge of
woodland. For food, the tender leaves and
shoots can be used as spinach. Medicinally
this plant has a long history of use particularly
during the medieval period when it was

cultivated by monasteries and country herbalists. For backcountry use it is most valuable
used in infusion for cuts, grazes and burns. It
can also be used as a compress to ease insect
stings.
Ground nuts (Apios americana): Found in
dense cover, particularly along stream and
river banks, ground nuts were one of the
commonest emergency foods used by
backwoodsmen in the early history of the U.S.
On the famous St Francis raid by Rogers
Rangers during the French and Indians war,
it was ground nuts and lily roots that were the
'wretched subsistence' afforded to his men by
the wilderness when they discovered that the
rescue party they were expecting had paddled
back to base leaving only a burned out fire.
The tubers, which are about the size of a
horse chestnut, occur along a thread-like root.
They can be eaten raw although are better
eaten boiled or included in a stew.
Hawthorn (Crataegus spp)*: Hawthorn is
a very useful tree; its wood is dense and
hardâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although not resilient to shocks and
blowsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and it is prone to cracking. It is fine to
carve and fashion into tools, (where the
strength of ash is not needed) and is an
80

solitude-loving, gastronome who can stomach
the flavour of young horseradish leaves in a
salad. But one such leaf in an average sized
backwoods stew will be a welcome flavouring,
as will be a small amount of the sliced root.
Beware overdoing it, the strength of the
flavour is legendary. The dried powdered root
can also be used in a poultice as an antiseptic,
although frequent applications to one area of
skin have been known to cause a rash.
Jack by the hedge, hedge garlic (Alliaria petiolata) *: A strong-flavoured plant; a few
leaves added to a wild salad make for an
interesting flavour. When crushed the leaves
give off a strong garlic smell. The juice from
the leaves or a decoction from the leaves can
be used for cuts and other slow-healing
wounds.
Jewel weed (Impatiens capensis*, I. pallida): The juice from this plant is one of the
traditional remedies for poison ivy rash,
although I am yet to be totally convinced of
its efficaciousness. It can also be used for
nettle rash. The young shoots of jewel weed
can be cooked by boiling in several changes of
water, which should be discarded.
Juniper (Juniperus spp)*: In Britain, juniper used to be a plant associated with magic.
Tied over doors and burned as incense, it was
said to drive away evil spirits and demons.
Dreaming of the juniper was considered
extremely meaningful and various interpretations could be made concerning the
detailed nature of the dream. The tree used to
be common on the chalk hills in the south of
England, but in recent years many of these
bushes have disappeared, crowded out by an
unstemmed tide of hawthorn.
As a survival plant, the juniper is very
useful: its wood can be used for friction
firelighting; its peeling bark can be used as
grade one tinder, and in those regions where it
STOWS as a tree, it can be used for bow wood.
The finest junipers I have seen are those that
tenaciously cover the sun scorched tops of the
mesas in New Mexico. Even now if I use a
juniper hand-drill hearth and the sweet smell
of the smoke brings memories flooding back.
For food, the juniper berries and the inner
bark can be used. The inner bark is white and
fibrous and can be dried and pounded into a
sort of flour. The ripe blue berries, a
traditional seasoning for game, can be rubbed
into a roasting joint, or they can be split open
dried in the sun and then ground up for

attractive dark yellow colour, turning orange
as it seasons. Producing a profusion of thorns,
this is an ideal wood for making fish hooks. As
the tree grows, the lower thorns die and
become brittle, making ideal fire kindling.
These brittle thorny twigs are traditionally
called 'tinkers sticks' because tinkers, romanies and other folk of the road would use
them for their fires; hawthorn being a
common roadside tree. Tinker's sticks can be
found dry under the canopy of a mature
hawthorn
even
under
the
heaviest
downpours.
This tenacious and hardy tree also provides
food; the tenderest young spring leaves can be
added to salads and the fruit or 'haws' can be
added to pemmican once the stones have been
removed. They are very bland though.
Hawthorn thickets are also excellent places to
trap: many rabbit-sized mammals rely upon
the thorny cover for their homes and protective cover.
Hazel (Corylinus avellana spp)*: The 'cob
nut' tree (hazel) grows fast to give long
straight shoots, which made it the natural
choice for coppicing. Cut cleanly close to the
groundâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;two or more shoots will rise from
where one stood previously; in some parts of
southwest Britain there are coppice 'stools'
which are over a metre in diameter showing
many years of successful coppicing. This wood
is one of the most useful a survivor will find.
Because it grows in straight shoots it is the
natural choice for arrow wood; even the
Californian Indians used this wood for
arrows. Hazel can also be split for wattle and
hurdle making. It makes ideal cooking material: split sticks for fish spits or meat, and
tongs for moving hot stones. It can be easily
bent into hoops and will retain its shape when
seasoned. In the autumn it produces hazel
nuts which can be gathered or eaten just
before they fully ripen and drop. The nut can
also be dried and ground into flour. Medicinally the bark and leaves can be used in
decoction to treat slow-healing wounds.
Horse radish (Armoracia rusticana)*: On
first acquaintance this plant resembles dock
but once you are fully familiar you will be
able to recognise it from a distance at a
glance. A quick test is to crush the juice from
the leaf or stem; if you are right there will be
no mistaking the overpowering horseradish
smell. Because of its powerful taste and smell
it is only the horseradish fan or hardy,
81

adding to other flours or including as flavouring for soups and stews. Well-seasoned
juniper wood can also be used for smoking
meats, imparting its own flavour.
Kinnikinik,
bearberry
(Arctostaphylos
uva-ursi)*, Alpine bearberry (A. alpinus)*:
A plant of the mountains, the berries can be
cooked for food, but they are not palatable
when raw. The dried leaves are the kinnikinik
that the native American valued so dearly for
his tobacco mixes.
Japanese knotiveed (Polygonum cuspidalum)*, (Reynoutriajaponica)*: This species was
introduced to Britain in 1825 as a garden
variety since when it has escaped and taken
root all over the country. A gardener I know
once tried to reclaim a part of his garden from
this voracious weed and only succeeded when
he resorted to a chainsaw and flame gun! But
for the backwoodsman this is a useful plant;
the young sprouting shoots can be gathered
and boiled or steamed like asparagus; they do
not taste like asparagus but have a sharp
flavour all their own. The rind and green
inner walls can be scraped from the fibrous
bamboo-like inner wall of the stem and used
as a sort of rhubarb. The first time I tried this
I followed a recipe for cooking a knotweed pie
which specified using chopped peeled stems.
The result was tasty but totally inedible as the
filling was as woody as if I had used chopped
mature bamboo. Prepare the knotweed
carefully before use, scraping it and chopping
it extremely finely; the flavour is remarkable
and a welcome change from the usual bitter
wild flavours.
Lady's smock, cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis)*: Lady's smock is one of my
personal favourite flowers; a sure harbinger of
spring. It is also a useful food plant, rich in
vitamin C; it makes an excellent addition to
backcountry salads bringing a delicate peppery cress-like flavour to the dish.
Lambs quarter, fat hen (Chenopodium
album): Use in the same way as already
described for Good King Henry.
Pond lilies (Muphar spp)*: Pond lilies are
an excellent source of food for emergencies.
The large rootstocks can be cooked like
potatoes, although they need four or five
changes of water. Not my favourite food, it
never seems to lose its strong flavour which is
reminiscent of stagnant water. The seeds can
be collected and dried for use as flour.
Water lilies (Nymphaea spp)*: Water lilies

are also a first rate source of food if not a little
better than their pond lily relatives. The seeds
can be used in the same manner as above; the
young shooting leaves and developing flower
heads can be steamed, or best of all the tubers
which branch off from the rootstock can be
pulled out of the mud and cooked as potatoes.
Mallow (Malva spp)*: The beautiful
flowers of mallow are one of my favourite
sights in late summer, the young leaves of
these plants particularly common mallow
(Malva sylvestris)* are a good green addition
to soups and stews. The seeds called cheeses
by country folk, are also a tasty nibble. The
plant normally grows in large bushy clumps
and is a particularly attractive habitat to
many insects so the leaves must always be
washed well before use.
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)*: This
plant can even be found in the dark!
Fortunately its stings disappear once cooked.
The tender tops and leaves should be boiled
with several changes of water and used as
spinach. They can also be useful as the base
for stews and soups. Dried, the leaves make an
excellent herbal tea. The dried stems provide
one of the best natural fibres for cordage.
Oak (Quercus spp)*: Apart from oak's
legendary strength it produces one of the most
important of all wild fruits: the humble acorn.
The only problem is that the high concentration of tannin in the nut makes it taste
bitter. There are several ways to remove this
bitter taste: for example the nuts can be
buried over winter until the taste has faded or
they can be placed in a basket in a running
stream for some days. The method I have
found most useful is to shell the kernels and
then crush them (not too finely), so that you
have a granular mass. Now place this in a
piece of clothing which is to act as a muslin
cooking bag. This bag is then secured and
boiled in repeated changes of water until the
water no longer strains brown from the
tannin. This done, the meal can be either
cooked immediately into a nourishing gruel
or dried and ground into high-quality
cooking flour. Acorns can also be roasted and
used for coffee.
Common
orache
(Atriplex
patula),
Spear-leaved orache (Atriplex hastala):
Used in the same way as already described for
Good King Henry.
Pignut (Conopodium majus)*: No relation
to the pignut tree found in North America,

the pignut is a delicate member of the
umbellifer family and without any doubt my
favourite wild food. It appears in the early
summer in grassland and at the edges of
woodland, or along the sides of woodland
trails where the sun penetrates the canopy. It
is the root of the plant that we are after.
Despite its small size above ground, occasionally you will find a root which is almost
the size of a golf ball, although for the most
part they are about the same size as a hazel
nut. Digging this root out of the ground is no
easy task however as the stem turns a ninety
degree angle at the root, narrowing to a very
weak thread thickness. Great care has to be
exercised as you follow the stem down to
avoid breaking the stem off and losing your
way to the root, You can easily identify the
root: it is roundish and knobbly and if
squeezed, the skin parts easily revealing a
creamy white inner surface. Tasting like a
cross between a radish and a cob nut these are
a delicious addition to a salad or eaten on
their own raw. They can be cooked but there
is little advantage to be gained. The only
preparation which needs to be carried out is
to squeeze off the outer skin.
Pines (Pinus spp)*: The pinon pine (p.
monophylla): Pine trees are one of the most
important sources of wild food. The white
inner bark when dried and ground into flour
has been used for centuries as an emergency
food in many widely varying regions of the
world. This flour is highly nutritious but has
an overpowering pine flavour when cooked so
any other flavourings you can add will help.
Young pine needles can be steeped in hot
water to produce a popular herb tea, rich in
vitamin C and A. Never boil the needles for
the tea as this reduces the vitamin C content.
The pinon pine is even more important as it
contains the famous pinon nut. These nuts are
in fact seeds; every pine produces seeds from
its cones which are edible but few are large
enough to be worth gathering. The pinon
cones are gathered in quantity and then
roasted by the fire to loosen the seeds which
are then simply knocked out. Once you have
shelled them you can either eat them raw or
parch them further in the shells and grind
them up into a flour.
Greater plantain (Plantago major)*: This
common trailside plant is a useful source of
food because of its wide availability. The
washed tender young leaves can be used raw

in a salad or boiled as a green but for the most
part I find this a little too bitter for my palate.
The seeds from the 'rats tail' seed stalk can be
gathered for use in stews and soups. The best
use the plant can be put to is as an antiseptic
used in infusion or as a poultice.
Prickly pear (Opuntia spp): Despite its
armour of thorns, the prickly pear is good
fare. The ovoid fruit which occurs on the top
of the pad can be eaten by slicing away the
top and peeling away the thorny outer skin.
The seed-filled interior of this fruit can be
eaten whole or the seeds spat out dried and
ground up into a flour. The prickly pear pads
can also be eaten. Scrape away the thorns and
peel the pad then slice it into thin strips; these
can be eaten raw, boiled or best of all fried.
Ramsons, wild garlic (Alluim urisnum*,
A. spp): Very strong flavoured, these
members of the onion family can often be
detected from their odour alone. The young
tender leaves can be cooked as a pot herb or
used in salads; the flower stalks make an
excellent spring onion substitute; and the
bulbs can be added to stews.
Wild raspberry (Rub us idaeus)*: A
favourite wild fruit, it needs little introduction
save to say that apart from the fruit being
eaten raw or cooked, the leaves can be dried
for use as a teaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the perfect wild tea
combination being a mixture of blackberry
and raspberry leaves.
Red goosefoot (Chenopodium rubrum)*:
Use as already described for Good King
Henry.
Reed (Phragmites communis)*: The seeds of
the reeds can be gathered for use as flour and
the young stems can be dried and ground for
flour; this is very rich in sugar and can be
heated near a fire until it bubbles up and
browns like to marsh mallows. The stems can
also be lightly crushed so that the plant
exudes a sugary gum. After some days,
depending upon the weather and moisture
available, enough of this gum can be gathered
from several plants to be used as sweets. Reed
stems also make good light and fast arrow
shafts.
Rose (Rosa canina)*: The wild rose provides an important source of food in the form
of hips. These are extremely rich in vitamin
C. They are however slow to gather and
prepare for eating. Bright orange, they are
easily spotted on the bush against the winter
snow, a welcome sight for any outdoorsman
83

or woman on the winter trail. The leaves and
hips can be infused to give one of the best
soothing herbal teas, and the hips can be
eaten raw or included in other recipes. Before
use however, the hips must be split open and
the hairy pips inside removed as they can
irritate the digestive tract.
Marsh samphire (Salicornia europaea) * :
This tasty plant grows in the silt of salt
marshes and tidal inlets; only the healthy
emerald green specimens should be gathered.
They are cooked by steaming or boiling in a
small amount of water for about ten minutes.
The succulent green parts are then pulled off
the fibrous stem with your teeth. Be sure to
warn your friends though as this plant is very
rich in soda and can have interesting though
not alarming effects on your digestive system.
Sorrel (Rumax spp)*: Sharper flavoured
than dock, sorrel can be used in the same
ways as already described, makes a very good
addition to fish dishes.
Sea purslane (Halimione portulacoides)*:
Another lover of the salt marsh, sea purslane
grows in bushy clumps which usually require
some wading to reach. Wash this plant
thoroughly and boil in a little water as a
green. If it tastes very salty you may need to
change the water several times.
Soapwort, bouncing bet (Saponaria ofjicinalis)*: This plant is poisonous yet very useful
as a soap. The leaves and stems are crushed
with water and used as a detergent; no soap
that I know of leaves your skin feeling as clean
and silky smooth as this natural alternative.
Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca)*: This
delicate fruit is even more tasty than its
cultivated cousin although it is smaller. Its
leaves can also be used dried as a herbal tea.
Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)*: The sycamore provides wood for friction fire lighting
and tool making and can be tapped for its sap
just as can birches and maples. This sap is
much less sugary than birch or maple but can
be used as an emergency source of water in
areas of heavy contamination, both for
drinking and cooking.
Sea beet (Beta vulgaris)*: As suggested by
its name, this is a plant of the sea shore, and
believed to be the ancestor of the cultivated
beets. The underground parts have no uses
but the leaves can be cooked as a pot herb.
Sloe
berry,
blackthorn
(Prunus
spinosa)*: Blackthorn is a hard dense wood
with a pinky orange color. It is a traditional

favourite for poachers throwing sticks and
clubs. The thorns can be used for fish hooks.
In early spring this tree flowers with beautiful
white flowers which look from a distance like
little star-filled explosions of dazzling white.
The sloe berry can be used for food. After the
stones have been removed from the berries
they can be dried for use in pemmican and
flours or better still, cooked in just enough
water to cover them. This removes the
unpalatable tart quality of these berries,
forming a sort of plum paste. This goes very
well with backwoods drop scones and other
fruit concoctions.
Thistle (Cirsium spp)*: Despite their ferocious spiny leaves and stems, thistles are an
important source of emergency food: the
tender young stems can be peeled and eaten
raw and the young leaves can be boiled as a
green (they lose their prickle when cooked).
Like burdock, thistles are biennials, the roots
of the first year plant can be peeled and eaten
raw or better still added to a stew. Most novel
of all the thistle foods is the flower button of
the spear thistle (Cirsium vlgare)*. By opening
the flower head up a button can be found at
the base of the flower which is a creamy white
colour discolouring quickly upon exposure to
air. This is a tasty nut-like treat.
Violets (Viola spp)*: Rich in vitamins,
violets are another useful edible plant. The
young leaves can be used as part of a salad or
cooked in stews soups or as a green. A tea can
also be made from the dried leaves. Used in
infusion, the leaves are an effective treatment
for mouth sores and sore throats.
Watercress (Mastutium officinale) *: This is
a first-class salad plant, though it must be well
washed. It can be differentiated from fools
watercress by its untoothed leaf edge, and less
regularly ribbed stem.
Willow (Salix spp)*: A springy wood
green, it becomes brittle when dry. Traditionally used for twitch up arms of traps and
basket weaving it can also be used for friction
firelighting. The bark of the two to threeyear-old stems contain salicylic acid and can
be gathered and used in infusion as aspirin.
This is one of the most effective backwoods
remedies, although it is very bitter tasting.
Rosebay willow herb (Epilobium auguslifolium)*: Known as fire weed by the North
American Indians because of its appearance
on ground recently burned out, its distinctive
flowers can be seen at a great distance. The
84

young spring roots of this plant can be added
to stews, the young shoots can be steamed or
boiled. The older shoots can be peeled and
the core used for flour dried and crushed. The
young leaves can be used in infusion either
fresh or dried to treat headaches. This tea is
very rich in vitamin C.
Wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella* Oxalis
spp): This small plant grows in clumps
preferring shady spots of the forest floor.
While it should not be consumed in any
quantity, its apple peel flavour is a welcome
change to the more common bitter-flavoured
wild plants. It is best eaten raw as a salad
plant although I have used it successfully to
reduce the bitterness of soups and teas made
from less palatable species.
Yarrow (Achillea millefohum)*: This is a
very powerful medicinal herb, so much so
that it would be very unwise to use it as an
edible plant. Pregnant women should not use
it under any circumstances. Used throughout
the world from ancient Greece to North
America, it is traditionally used for treating
wounds, both to reduce the flow of blood as a
haemostat and to prevent infection as an
antiseptic. It can also be used to induce
perspiration when used as a strong infusion
and can reduce your natural protection from
sunburn.
Having read about these uses I determined
to put this wonder drug to my own test.
Gathering the plant from amongst tall grass
where it was forced to grow tall, I dried the
stalks and leaves in the shade and then
powdered them. As described in the second
chapter I ended up using the plant to treat a
worse cut than I bargained for, but it worked
extremely well. The powder applied to the
wound absorbed the blood and stuck tight to
the wound forming an artificial scab, and so
stopping the bleeding very quickly. Once I
had returned to modern hygienic comfort I
removed the scab to clean the wound. The
scab did not break up as I expected but held
together, coming off cleanly like a cast. The
wound was clean and had begun to heal, I
suspect that in the past such a scab may have
been left in place. I then washed the wound
with a strong infusion of the dried yarrow
which I continued to use in place of conventional antiseptic with no ill effects. I relied
upon a modern dressing to hold the wound
closed but am certain the original scab would

have done the job. This experiment was not
scientific and I am not suggesting that you use
herbs solely in place of modern medicine but
if you have no other alternatives available to
you, yarrow would seem to be a useful
stopgap.
Yevu (Taxus baccata)*: Yew is a poisonous
tree especially the seeds, the green wood
should never be used for cooking utensils or
cooking fuel and while spoons and bowls can
be made from this wood it should not be used
for long term food or water storage. The wood
is hard and springy an ideal choice for spear
or harpoon heads as well as its traditional use
in bowmaking.
Yucca, Spanish bayonet (Yucca spp):
This plant of arid and desert regions has blade
shaped leaves with a sharp spike at the tip. It
is an extremely useful plant. The fresh leaves
crushed and broken up in water can be used
as a backcountry soap, and the fibres of the
leaves make very strong cordage. But on top
of this it also provides food; the waxy flowers
can be eaten raw in salads and the succulent
fruit can be cooked. To prepare the fruit cut it
in half longitudinally and remove the fibre
and seeds then steam the remaining parts.
Seaweeds
When gathering seaweeds for food gather
only those healthy-looking specimens that are
firmly attached to rock by a hold fast. Despite
their unpalatable appearance seaweeds are a
valuable food stuff high in mineral content.
Gather them by cutting them half a metre
from the hold fast, this will ensure that they
grow back. For food, all of the seaweeds listed
below can be boiled for use in soups and
stews, the more tender varieties can be eaten
raw. One of the best ways to use seaweed is to
dry it and then grind it up into a powder
which can be used to thicken and flavour
soups and stews. Before use, all seaweeds must
be thoroughly cleaned. Some of the seaweeds
such as laver can be boiled until they break
down or can be easily mashed into a puree or
soup. Of the hundreds of different seaweed
species only the sea sorrels (Desmarestia
aculeate, ligulate and viridis) pose a problem
because they contain sufficient levels of
sulphuric to cause severe stomach cramps. It
is unlikely that sufficient quantity will be
eaten to cause death.

8:^

Edible kelp, dabberlocks
(Alaria
esculenta) *
Kelp, carvueed (Laminaria digita) *
Sweet oar -weed, sugar kelp (Laminaria
saccharina) *
Sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca)*
Carragheen,
Irish
moss
(Chondrus
crispus) *
Dulse (Rhodymenia palmata) *
Bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) *
'No common name' (Enteromorpha intestinalis) *
Laver (Porphyra umbilicalis)*
Mosses and Lichens
The lichens and mosses listed below are
edible. Like seaweed they can be dried and
powdered for use in soups and stews acting as
thickening and flavouring agents.
Reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina)*: A
survival food of the Lapps this plant can be
boiled down into a jelly useful for thickening
stews. Before use it should be soaked for
several hours to lose its bitter taste.
Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica)*: Used
as for reindeer moss.
Rock tripe (Umblicaria pustulata)*: Cook
this in the same way as seaweed allowing it a
slow simmer to cook.
Fungi
Fungi are surrounded in superstition and
mystery which coupled with the fact that
some species are lethally toxic has led to their
being virtually completely ignored as a source
of food in the U.K. Those few people who can
recognise the edible varieties and appreciate
their subtle flavours are regarded as being a
little eccentric. In Europe, however many of
the wild species are greatly valued for their
culinary qualities and traded alongside the
humble cultivated mushroom. In survival
situations a knowledge of edible fungi will
open a world of flavours otherwise closed to
you.
Much nonsense is spoken about the value of
learning fungi for survival purposes, so let us
get it right. Fungi are a useful food supply but
do not come before many of the plants
already listed in importance because of their
mainly unpredictable season and appearance.
They are a resource which can only be taken
advantage of when present, whereas plants
can be more easily hunted for with greater
certainty of success.

Having familiarised yourself with these fungi
you can begin to learn the edible varieties.
The edible fungi listed below are chosen
because of their common occurrence and
difficulty to mistake with the dangerous
varieties. Make certain that you remove the
86

fungus you are examining from the ground
intact so that you can identify it correctly.
Apart from the obvious physical characteristics your field guide will most likely rely upon
relevant habitat details as well so if you are
removing the fungi to another location for
analysis take note of the habitat in which you
found it.

Puffballs: There is a danger with this
family that in identifying the smaller of these
species, you will mistake the golf-ball-like
early stage of a poisonous amanita for a
puffball, or confuse an earthball for a puffball.
Both of these problems can be avoided by
cutting the fungus in half. If it is a developing
amanita you will see a developing cap. If it is
an earthball the centre will be brown or with
the very youngest earthballs slightly yellowish. In both cases discard the fungus, even
edible varieties of puffball should only be
eaten when the centre is a pure virginal white.
When puffballs have become little bags of
spores they have medicinal value, since the
earliest times being used as a haemostatic, the
powder being directly pounded onto a wound
to stop the bleeding.
The giant puffball (Langermannia gigantea) *
Wo common name' (L. perlatum)*
'No common name' (Calvatia utriformis)*
'No common name' (C. excipuliformis)*

Ceps: This family of fungi are widely
regarded as the safest for gathering by
survivors or beginners. While some varieties
have been known to cause upset stomachs,
deaths are rare. Easily recognised by the
sponge-like surface to the underside of the cap
those species listed below are common and
excellent eating. If you have any doubt with
this family stick to those with caps whose
underside is yellow or light brown in colour
and avoid those which are orange or red
tinged.
Cep, penny bun (Boletus edulis) *
Bay boletus (B. badius)*
Larch boletus (B. elegans)*
Slippery Jack (B. luleaus)*
'No common name' (B. apendiculatus)*
'No common name' (B erythropus) *
Orange birch bolete (Leccinum verispelle) *
Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius)*
Fairy ring champignon (Marasmius

Preparing, Using and Storing Fungi
Fungi should be collected when fresh and
young and this is particularly important with
the bracket fungi. If they are wormy or part
eaten cut out the damaged sections, the fungi
can now be used immediately or dried for
later addition to soups and stews. When
drying fungi string them on a wand of willow
or similar wood and hang them in a dry part
of your shelter they can even be smoked
lightly, the more fleshy varieties such as the
brackets and boletus varieties dry best if they
are cut into 5mm thick slices and laid out in
the sun. Only place them together in a

oreades) *

Field mushrooms: These are of the same
family as the cultivated mushroom. Many are
edible and good eating, however care must be
exercised in identification and any that
87

container when they are thoroughly dry. Do
not be afraid to mix varieties of dried fungus.
Horn of plenty and the boletus fungi are
exceptional as stew and soup additives when
dried. All fungi used in backwoods conditions
should be cooked. They can be sliced thin and
fried or simmered in water or added to stews.
Some are better than othersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Chicken of
the Woods is a really exceptional fungus; slice
this thin and saute or stew it. Fungi can be

used as stuffing to meat dishes and baked in a
backwoods oven.
Fungi are, as I am certain you will discover,
a fascinating and absorbing study. They have
many uses beyond just food. Many have been
used commercially for tinder, some for
sharpening razors. One particular lady I have
met, can actually manufacture leather from
fungus!

â&#x20AC;˘

Hunting
â&#x20AC;˘ 'He saw how if a man were to break a stick or shout or
otherwise betray his presence, the whole forest would freeze,
united in silence against the intruder. He saw that the
Indians moved silently, and were themselves as much a part
of nature as the animals they hunted.'
(Lovat Dickson writing of Grey Owl)

It is in hunting that the backwoodsman
graduates, carrying his awareness and
attunement as others carry their velum
scrolls. For in the backwoods every sight,
sound, smell, or movement is a piece in a
great jigsaw. Every hunter or alert naturalist
spends many years assembling and putting
together the pieces of this mysterious jigsaw;
learning to recognise the recurring patterns so
that in the identification of one piece such as
the cawing of a crow he can say with certainty
that another piece, such as a hunting fox, is
nearby. In this way native hunters are able to
learn and take advantage of the keener senses
of the wild animals around them.
This level of awareness is easily attainable
by modern man; all that it takes is practise.
Once you begin to make a point of noticing
the patterns of disturbance, both near and far,
of different events you will surprise yourself
with how quickly you can predict the
presence of different creatures.
For the native hunter without the advantage of modern hunting weapons, the difference between eating and starving was often
a matter of feet and inches. To be certain of
his kill he had to be able to stalk his quarry to
within a few feet, pitting his cunning and
ability to move invisibly across the land
against his prey's heightened senses and
instincts. Out of this competition the hunter

learned to respect the animal he was hunting
and often the hunt was surrounded with
taboos. Many native hunters will tell you that
the animal being hunted recognises the
hunter's need for food and sacrifices its body
to aid him. In this sense any game caught is
sacred and must not be wasted lest the spirit
of the animal be insulted. On these occasions,
hunting is solely carried out for the supply of
food and resources, and nothing is thrown
away, the inedible parts being fashioned into
tools, cordage, leather etc. Whether or not
you choose to believe the hunter's view of the
kill it is a practical attitude in balance with
the natural order which I think is still valid
today. By the same token, should a hunter
return unsuccessful from a hunt he simply
accepts the fact and waits for his next hunting
trip, when as always he will not pass up any
game which might satisfy his need; when
hunting to eat, in the wilderness you cannot
afford to be choosy.
Although not immediately obvious hunting
skills are probably the woodcraft skill of most
overall benefit to an outdoors man or woman,
being of value in both cosmopolitan metropolis and far flung desert. Learning to hunt need
not necessarily involve the taking of any life;
stalking can be practised using a camera; the
use of hunting weapons practised against
easily-improvised targets. In fact this is how
89

many native children learn to hunt—they
play games such as creeping up behind small
mammals to touch them which develops their
reflexes and hand/eye coordination, both of
which are vital to the successful hunter.
Native children all over the world learn to use
hunting weapons by shooting blunt arrows
and spears from miniature bows or spear
throwers.
Seeing without being Seen
To hunt successfully requires a range of skills
rarely employed in the modern world. In the
outdoors you are competing for food with
creatures whose senses are biased in a very
different way to your own. Above all, you
must remain alert and use to the full the
sensory abilities you already possess: sight,
touch, smell, taste, hearing. It all begins with
the attitude you adopt to your surroundings.
I think of the outdoors as a great river flowing
gracefully yet powerfully with a mesmerising
regularity. If you cast a branch into the
current, after an initial pause it begins to
move with the flow, but should the branch
snag on a rock it will break the calm surface
with a white spume. In many ways this is how
nature is, in the mountains and forests there is
a pace to life, a current, the speed and flow of
which changes with the seasons and weather,
and bound" up in it are the lives and
movements of all the wild creatures. If you
walk into a forest or savannah in the same
way as you walk in the city—heavy footed,
bobbing up and down and in a rush—you
will stand out like that snagged branch. The
secret is to sit quietly and still for a few
moments until you have absorbed the pace
and can slip silently into the stream with a
smooth action, unhurried and in sympathy
with your surroundings. At first this will feel
contrived but in, time will be a natural and
almost imperceptible action.
I have met those who make much fuss
about stalking and claim almost supernatural
abilities for ballet-like actions but find this to
be mostly contrived to satisfy the imaginations of tenderfeet; the only real secret to
being aware is acquiring a level of calm
sufficient to allow your senses to receive an
unscrambled picture of your surroundings.
To see this at work watch an old game keeper
as he goes about his chores. He moves freely
and easily about his estate with no outward
signs of alertness save for the fact that he is

searching the surrounding cover with his ears,
listening for the sound of fledgling kestrels in
the tree tops, or any other tell-tale signs. His
eyes are not fixed on the ground in front of
him but look far and near and in those places
that the deer and woodcock like to hide.
These skills are most apparent when the
keeper accompanies an apprentice. While the
apprentice can walk through a wood and see
nothing but the obvious, the keeper walking
the same path, listening attentively, his gaze
drawn selectively to sounds of interest, can
gather a mass of information. The good
woodsman also learns to appreciate silence,
he should not feel uneasy without conversation on the trail; talk is best saved for the
drama of the campfire.
Learn to see with your ears and hear with
your eyes. Whenever you witness an animal
doing something, such as searching for food or
burrowing a den, memorise both the actions
and the sounds so that if you ever hear that
particular sound again your mind can play
back the pictures. This is a very important
aspect of your awareness skills—especially if
you feel yourself walking at night, in dense
forest or country where the local wildlife
sports the most effective camouflage. In any
situation where eyesight alone is not sufficient, you must heighten your hearing skills
for your own safety let alone hunting.
It is vital that you learn to combine your
senses. If you detect a faint sound, stop and
listen more carefully, stilling yourself to
produce absolutely no noise. Use the old
school master's trick of cupping your hands
behind your ears to magnify and focus your
audio equipment. Check the air for scent with
your nose; deer and many other mammals
have very distinctive scents which are often
well within the range of human sensory
awareness. There is no set way that your
senses must be used, but the most frequent
way I use mine is as follows. As I move down a
trail or across country my nose may pick up
the odour of a scent marking. Finding this
and giving it the scent test, it is often possible
to gauge the freshness of the mark, especially
if there are suitable tracks to use as a double
check (see Chapter Eight). Then I have the
option to either follow the tracks, or as would
be more likely in the case in a non-hunting
situation, make an educated guess as to the
likely direction of the target and by viewing
the landscape as though I was that creature,

pursue the most likely course, checking
occasionally for tracks to confirm the right
choice of route. I almost always hear the
animal first before I see it. If this is the case,
then with the minimum of movement I turn
my gaze in the direction of the sound, taking
the widest view I can, until a movement is
detected and I can focus my attentions on it.
These are the real skills of hunting, skills
that enable you to approach and study wild
creatures without disturbing them, thus enabling you to devise a cunning means of
capture whether for the pot or to get them on
film. To further disguise your presence you
should use the prevailing wind conditions to
your advantage (walking into the wind so
that it carries your scent away from the prey)
and take steps to minimise your body odours.
Apart from resisting any temptation to splash
cologne all over your body, the easiest way to
do this is to smudge yourself with woodsmoke
which effectively masks most of your other
odours. You can also carry with you some
strongly scented plants which occur in the
area you are hunting, bruise them slightly to
allow the odour to escape although do not
overdo it. Your aim is to mask those odours
which tell your prey 'the most dangerous
animal is hunting nearby', not to lure them to
your charming herbal perfume.

presence of an intruder to the rest and they all
stood on alert, but after a moment of my
mimicking them grazing they lost interest and
returned to their own patches of food.
Encouraged by the success of my unlikely
disguise I carried on towards them to within
thirty feet where I gave a loud deer call. I
thought I'd gone too far when they moved a
few paces uphill, but although thoroughly
suspicious they returned to their grazingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as
did Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although they paused frequently to
squint in my direction. Even so, I was able to
approach to within fifteen or twenty feet of
them, before they finally decided that I was
not a desirable member of the herd and
trooped off in order of priority. While I have
stalked right up to deer in woodland
situations, this is the closest I have ever got to
them in completely open difficult ground,
where even with a very poor disguise I was
easily able to approach within striking
distance assuming a bow or atlatl. (I should
point out that this took place well outside of
the breeding season and that I would not
normally disturb a herd of deer.)
Having learned how to increase your
chances of approaching closely to wild
animals you must practise. No skill is more
rewarding on the trail than being able to get
to within a few feet of a wild creature or close
enough to fill the frame of a medium range
zoom lens. In fact hunting with a camera is an
excellent way to practise stalking; it allows
you the opportunity to study wild creatures
and their movements with the minimal
investment of time, although it will not
guarantee that you achieve the best photographic results. A classic example of this occurred
last spring when early one morning I went
hunting for a picture of a fox with a
photographer friend. I would not normally
hunt with anyone else but this friend knows
the value of stealth and silence and is no more
obvious than a shadow. After a disappointing
sighting of a vixen sniffing the trail thirty feet
ahead we opted for a more overgrown path
which led into thick hawthorn woodland. On
the woodland floor there was a carpet of white
hawthorn blossom and the night's proceedings could be read from the gaps in the carpet
where the blossom had stuck to the feet of the
woodland folk. I sensed we were not alone
and
almost
immediately detected
a
movement. Without signalling (I relied on
my friend's ability to detect the movement

To further disguise yourself you can resort
to camouflage, although with most mammals
as long as you are wearing drab colours they
are enough to break up the outline of your
silhouette. A common practise amongst native hunters is to disguise themselves as their
prey and then by mimmicking their
movements and sounds, to approach them
across open ground. I have never used this as
a hunting technique but have experimented
with it once to see how close I would get to a
herd of deer. I was on a tracking expedition
with a colleague at the time and we had
trailed the deer to their resting area which
was situated on the side of a depression in a
secluded area of bogland. Improvising a
crude disguise from two sprigs of Sweet Gale
hastily pushed into my head band to represent ears, I approached the herd across the
boggy ground, imitating as nearly as I could,
the proud movements of a deerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;much to the
amusement of my colleague who almost blew
the whole experiment with his loud chuckling! But he was as astonished as I with the
results. At first the look-out deer signalled the
91

simple and were almost certainly employed
by our most primitive ancestors, while others
are complex in construction and have a
longer range. Don't let the simplicity of a
design deter you from its use in favour of the
complex; some of the simplest weapons are
the most deadly.
Sticks and stones: The first weapon a
human learns to use is in most cases a stone.
You only have to watch children playing to
see this happening; from a very early age they
learn to pick up and throw a stone to where
they could not physically reachâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and as they
grow and their muscles strengthen the stone
thrown becomes larger and their range
greater. Used against small game the stone as
a weapon can be very effective; its great
advantage being its easy availability in many
different environments. Technique varies
from individual to individual as does a
preference for size and shape of stone, though
a swift punch or whip-like throw, using an
egg-sized round pebble is one of the best. Try
to throw instinctively without a complicated

also), we stood stock still as a dog fox trotted
down the trail to a junction three feet in front
of me where he paused, cocked his head
quizzically at us as if to say 'that's strange I
could have sworn those weren't there earlier!'
and then hurried home leaving us with a
picture imprinted in our memories but not on
our film. One of many encounters too close to
move the camera to the eye!
Hunting Weapons
Given the choice I would always rather hunt
with a camera than with a weapon but we
must be realistic. To survive in the bush we
need meat and very importantly fat. Only in
very exceptional circumstances is a vegetarian diet a feasible alternative. So if we must
hunt for food let us make certain that we have
the technology and ability to do the job
swiftly and efficiently, causing as little suffering as possible. The following hunting techniques and tools have been used by native
hunters for centuries for every imaginable
prey and on nearly every continent. Some are

Old English catapults made by the author; a simple hunting tool which fits into a pocket.

92

aiming system; I find that the harder I try to
hit the target the more often I miss it, whereas
if I am running or moving about (perhaps in
search of plants or shelter materials) I can hit
the target when forced to react quickly to a
situation. Of course the stone you use does not
have to be small or thrown; on several
occasions now I have been able to sneak up
and drop a large rock on unsuspecting rats. A
very swift and efficient technique!
Sling shot: To increase the range over
which a stone can be used, the sling shot was
devised, and once you have used one, its
giant-slaying reputation is entirely understandable. Essentially this weapon has been used
in three forms; the small hunting version a
larger hand-held form as an antipersonnel
weapon during the medieval period (which
threw a stone the size of a cricket ball
particularly against siege forces) and the
largest one which was a large mechanical
version which threw very large stones indeed.

forcefully around your head, the stone being
trapped by centrifugal force. At the correct
moment the knotted thong is let go, releasing
the stone with great force at the target. In
actual use you will only have time to swing
the sling once, or at the very most twice,
before releasing it as the action will alert the
game. Of course this skill requires practise but
if you persevere this weapon will bring down
the largest small game.
The sling itself is best made from well
softened rawhide although you could also
weave an alternative from plant materials.
Bolas: Commonly used by the hunters of
the arctic, the bolas was used to bring down
principally water dwelling birds such as
ducks, geese and gulls. It is made by attaching
between three to eight weights to one metre
thongs which are then joined together. The
finest were joined together to form a handle
which was further wrapped with a withe. The
weights can be made of wood, bone or stones
wrapped in rawhide. To avoid tangling, the
bolas was carried by a hunter with the thongs
loosely tied in a form of slip knot so that when
needed for use the weights could be pulled
and the knot would disappear leaving straight
untangled lines. It was used by throwing it
into a flock of birds on the ground or water
where it had the greatest chance of striking or
tangling a bird. It is not unusual for this
weapon to bring down more than one target.

Often underestimated, the slingshot is a hunting weapon
which takes some practice to learn to use, but is easily
made and is a high-powered weapon.

Of course we are only interested in the
hunting version which can throw a stone of
any size ranging from a stone the size of a
pigeon's egg to that of a hen's egg. Today this
simple weapon is only in regular use in remote
regions of the world such as Papua New
Guineaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a fact which surprises me for it is
very effective. The principle is simple: a
suitably sized round pebble is placed in a fold
of leather which has two thongs attached to it.
One of these thongs has a loop in its end to fit
over the thumb of the throwing hand while
the other end is knotted for ease of grip. With
the stone enfolded in the sling it is swung

Traditionally used for waterfowl, the bolas can be used
for any flocking birds. When not in use it should be
carried tied with the slip knot illustrated to reduce snarls
and tangles. It works best when thrown horizontally at
about knee height.

Throwing sticks: Another weapon
commonly used all around the world is the
throwing stick. In England the throwing stick
93

amounts of fatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an essential requirement in a
survival diet.
Spears can be divided into two types:
'spears' which are mainly used in the hand,
and 'javelins' which are mainly thrown.
While at a pinch each can do the other's job
these two weapons are very different in
design. Hand spears are heavy and strong,
their length depending on the prey and your
hunting technique, while javelins are of
medium weight to allow them to penetrate at
range.
At its very crudest, a spear can be simply a
suitably-sized piece of wood sharpened at one
end and perhaps hardened in a fire.
Compared to modern hunting tools this is a
crude and cruel weapon but its ease of
manufacture makes it an important tool;
early man was able to procure his needs in
this way. Yew is a good hard wood to use. To
reduce the suffering of the prey and make a
weapon far more effective, you need to
improvise a sharp point which preferably will
cut, this can be made from a variety of
materials such as woodfstone, bone or antler
(see Chapter Twelve). The shape of the spear
point depends upon the type of game you are
hunting and the type of spear in general.
Thrusting spears should be equipped with a
broad cutting edge as there is sufficient force
available for its use, whereas javelin points
should be more streamlined to allow deep
penetration at the greatest range.
The best way to use a thrusting spear is to
wait in ambush for the prey, the problem with
this is that it can be time consuming and is
frequently fruitless unless you make a detailed
effort with your camouflage and descenting.
Javelins on the other hand can reach game
when you encounter it even if it is in the midst
of thick undergrowth, although their range
and velocity are quite limiting. This was a
problem for early man and as usual he came
up with more sophisticated weapons to solve
the problem.

Throwing sticks are just about the simplest of all hunting
weapons and yet they may be all that you need to stay
alive. They vary from a simple evenly-weighted stick
(top), to weighted varieties, to the aerodynamic nonreturn boomerang of the native Australian.

was one of the classic poachers'weapons, silent
effective and easily discarded if surprised by
the keepers. The shape of throwing sticks
varies according to the way they are used,
ranging from the English club-shaped stick to
the Aboriginal non-return boomerang. In my
travels I have come across at least eight
different ways of using a throwing stick but
basically they can be broken down into two
basic techniques.
The first of these involves the throwing stick
which has one end weighted heavier than the
other and is thrown with force in such a way
as to pin the prey flying like a bullet. The
second is to use a stick which is evenly
weighted, or even carved to an aerodynamic
design. This type of stick is thrown in such a
fashion as to spin around its centre of gravity
like a helicopter blade. You will develop your
own technique along these lines but remember that the throw must be executed with an
explosive swiftness. The pinning type of stick
is best suited to heavy undergrowth. I have
even seen a game keeper stop a rabbit in the
middle of a bramble patch with such a stick,
while the rotating type of stick is better suited
to open ground.
Spears and javelins: For ninety per cent
of your needs the primitive weapons so far
described will serve your needs, but for
long-term survival or travel through areas
where there are dangerous predatory
animals, you may need a more effective
weapon. Spears are the obvious choice; their
great advantage is that they will allow you to
bring down larger game which possess greater

Sophisticated Hunting Tools
These are the tools the native hunter most
commonly used, and are a quantum leap
forward in technology from sticks and stones.
As soon as you pick them up you can sense
their potential, boosting your confidence and
reducing your fears. They change the hunting
experience from that of a long careful stalk
94

Spearheads made by author: left to right, a close-range spear with a broad flint point. An atlatl dart with a barbed antler
point. A very primitive close-range spear with a point of yew.

with an anything but certain outcome, to a
more instantaneous activity, freeing time
from the hunt for other chores.
The Woomera or Atlatl: This is the spear
thrower, the precursor to the bow and arrow.
Today it still finds use with the Australian
Aborigine who never evolved the bow and
arrow. In Europe the hunters of the Upper
Paeleolithic used these weapons to hunt a
wide range of game from woolly mammoths
to reindeer. The obvious pride they placed in
these tools can be seen from the intricate and
very beautiful carving they lavished upon
them (in my experience hunters only decorate
in detail their favourite and most prized
possessions). Of all the hunting tools I have
chosen to include this is the most practical for
survival purposes. It is easily made, can be
quickly mastered and has easily enough
power to bring down efficiently the largest

game you are likely to need to hunt. In fact 1
believe this to be the most under rated of all
hunting tools.
The principle is simple. The spear thrower
acts as an extension to your arm, effectively
lengthening the leverage you can apply to the
spear. The easiest way to make the thrower is
to cut a straight tree limb of about thumb
thickness which has a suitable off-shooting
branch that can be carved to locate with a
depression made in the base of the spear. If
you search hard enough you can sometimes
find suitable branches growing from the scar
of a severed branch that are the perfect shape
for the job. However, such spear throwers are
only really suitable for the short term, because
the amount of force generated when the spear
is launched is considerable and concentrated
on that one spot. Far better is to carve the
throwing arm from one piece of wood and fit
95

The atlatl acts as an extension to your arm accelerating and magnifying the cast of a spear. This is probably the most
undervalued survival weapon. The atlatl may also double as a digging stick or fire saw.

a bone or antler peg into it, or to carve the
thrower completely from antler. My favourite
spear thrower is carved from hawthorn to an
aboriginal design and has a peg of antler
fitted and lashed into place with sinew. The
peg is recessed and shaped so that the loading
it receives in use holds it tightly in place,
minimising the strain placed on the sinew.
The size and weight of your spear thrower
can vary according to your preference.
Aboriginal woomeras come in a wide range of
shapes and sizes from long and narrow to
short and very broad, the early European
spear throwers seem to have been relatively
short while atlatls used in the Americas were
long, sometimes even with an additional
weight fitted to the articulating end. Some of
these weights are formed from beautifully
carved stones drilled to slip over the main
shaft of the thrower. To use the thrower the
base of a medium weight javelin (or fishing
harpoon (is fitted on the peg and held by one
or two fingers of the hand which holds the
atlatl. The spear is then projected forwards
towards the target with a graceful throwing
action which accelerates into a wrist action as
the spear thrower boosts the spear on its way.
When you first practise this movement concentrate on developing the technique first,
you can build up the power once mastered.

Similar but not quite the same are the
harpoon throwers used by the waterborne
arctic hunters. These are shorter than the
spear thrower and carved intricately to allow
for careful finger placement. Because they are
used from a kayak they have to be used with
far more wrist and finger force than arm
force, to avoid upsetting the balance in the
boat. This may seem strangeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;after all these
are expert canoeistsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but on land when you
use a spear thrower you are actually using
your whole body in the action predominantly
with a rotation of your upper body. The
kayak technique is more linear.
To improve the accuracy of this weapon
you can attach flights to the tail of the spear to
stabilise its flight. The spears you use can vary
in size from the largest javelin to fast, very
high-powered light darts, halfway in size
between a small javelin and an arrow. My
favourites are made from straight elder stems
fitted with a short forcshaft of hard wood
fitted with a suitable stone point. The atlatl
was also used for fishing and many other
purposes; sometimes the atlatl doubled as a
digging stick or fire saw. When the great
storm of 1986 left a lot of debris to be cleared I
found an unusual use for a spear thrower
when a tree which no one could find a
solution to clearing had not fallen cleanly and
96

the archer was not easy to mistake since the
sheer strength of his arms gave his trade away
at a glance. But as archers were superseded by
the musket, so the bow became reserved for
sport and occasional hunting. In the process
the more powerful war and hunting bows
became less popular and now the bows that
could pin a knight to his horse despite the
plate armour and saddle, have been almost
forgotten.
I started making bows and arrows as a
child when although they were very crude,
they fascinated me. By a process of experimentation and reading I was soon fashioning
my own flighted arrows and remarkably
powerful bows using the simplest of tools: an
old saw and a blunt metal file. In the process
there were many failures with bows snapping
sometimes when in use with alarming results.
However luck was with me; bows are in my
opinion the epitome of woodcraft, especially
the English long bow which is a self bow
(made solely from one piece of wood) gaining
all of its awesome power from the way in
which the wood is carved. In the process of
learning to make a bow you have to learn to
listen to the wood fibres speaking to you and
follow the grain coaxing it gently into the
finished tool. You need to know which woods
have the characteristics which make them a
suitable choice for the bow and how to select
them. Most importantly of all you must
appreciate the sheer mechanics of the wood
structure itself. These things are not learned
over night and you can expect many failures
in the process of bow-making as you discover
the secrets of the craft. When I teach
primitive bow-making I am constantly reminded of the many comical mistakes I made
in the early days, it is a sort of natural
apprenticeship.

In general use the atlatl is used in a quick over-theshoulder action. But it can also be used to cast a fishing
harpoon.

was caught up in the branches of another. No
amount of pulling on ropes or chopping was
going to free it leaving no option but to cut it
free above ground. Climbing the tree was out
of the question because of the tangled mess, so
the answer seemed to be to prussik up into the
tree and cast a rope over the one suitable
limb. But here again the tangle seemed to
make that task impossible. And then it
dawned on us; we made a makeshift spear and
thrower and attaching some strong line from
the ditty bag to the spear we were able to
accurately cast the spear through the tangle
and over the desired limb. It was then a
simple task to tie the rope to the line and haul
it over the branch. Who said ancient hunting
tools are obsolete!
Bows and arrows: England has a longhistory of archery going back to Robin Hood
and battles such as Agincourt; many well
preserved bows were salvaged from the Mary
Rose ship. In fact in the days of chivalry, so
feared was the archer that he was branded
unchivalrous and if captured was frequently
put to the sword without question. Having
practised archery weekly by law from youth

Bows are not made quickly; the fastest I
have ever made a hunting bow was four hours
working flat out with perfect materials and a
metal knife; the best bows are those made
slowly over a period of some weeks. The very
best bowsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the sinew-backed horn bows of
the Turks -often took several years to make.
So why have I included the technique when
the atlatl is so easily made? Simple: making a
bow is the best way I know of learning the
intricacies of woodcraft and developing patience, a vital and declining quality. For
youngsters on a campout or for a father-andson project, none is more rewarding at the
97

The stages of bowmaking: I. Find a suitable piece of wood. 2. This is quartered. 3. The quarter with the straightest
knot-free grain is rough hewn to a bow shape. 4. Shave it to the final shape. 5. Finally the grip is marked, the bow greased
and the nocks cut.

end of the day, and in real terms if you do ever
venture into the backcountry and your rifle
fails, the ability to make and use a bow will be
invaluable.
There are many designs of bow which you
might choose to make, but the one I have
chosen to explain is the self bow (a bow
fashioned from a single piece of wood),
common to the plains tribes of North America. I have chosen this for two good reasons: it
is simple in construction, and it is shortâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
usually no more than 125cm longâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which
means that you will more easily be able to
find suitably straight raw materials. The only
difficulty you may ,face is maintaining the
power of the bow without it developing any
cracks, but if you follow my instructions
carefully you should succeed.
Making a bow: Bows have been made of
many woods: the English longbow was
traditionally made from yew which is one of
the best bow woods, while in America the
Osage Orange wood was preferred. In general, bows made from hard woods are the
strongest and most resilient. This does not
rule out the use of soft woods, which
(excepting yew) need to be carved broad and
thin to prevent the grain splitting. For your
first bow choose a wood which is easily
worked (ideally ash) and has an obvious
straight grain which is easy to follow as you
carve.

Ideally the wood should be dry and
seasoned. In my experience the best naturally
found bow staves are those suspended in the
branches almost horizontally. Vertical
standing wood is often seasoned in different
degrees from one end of the stave to the other,
not an insurmountable problem but one that
will cause unevenness in the manufacture
which is a complication best avoided in your
early attempts. If you are unable to find
suitable wood which is dead there are two
options: either to cut green wood and season it
before carving, or to carve the green wood
and season the bow for use by smearing it
with fat to slow down the drying process and
prevent cracking. Generally, seasoning before
carving is the best option.
You are searching for a stave of wood about
three inches in diameter and straight for at
least five feet. The best wood will always be
found in dense woodland on a slope where the
trees have been forced to compete for light,
growing tall and slender with a straight
knot-free grain. Assuming you have found
suitable wood, do not remove the bark. This
will help protect the most vulnerable fibres
during manufacture. Should you have to
store the stave any length of time, keep it dry
and horizontal.
The first step in the manufacturing process
is to split the wood to take best advantage of
the grain. The wood which occurs nearest to

the bark is called the pith wood; the fibres in
this part of the wood stretch well and will be
used to form the back of the bow (the side
which faces the target when used). The fibres
in the centre of the wood are called the
heartwood, these fibres do not stretch well but
do compress well, so this part of the wood is
used to form the bow's belly (the part which
faces the archer when in use). By carefully
quartering the bow stave you should have
enough wood to make four bows, although
you may find it easier to halve the stave until
you are more proficient at wood splitting. The
best way to split the stave is not the
conventional 'frueing' from one end as carried
out by the expert woodsman. This takes a
great deal of practise to master and bow
staves are too valuable to be learning such
rudimentary skills on. Take a small axe or
tomahawk and hammer it through the centre
of the stave, being careful to keep it in line
with the sides. Then remove it and by a
similar process either side of the initial split,
work the split to the stave ends. If you are
careful this should perfectly bisect the stave. If
you do not wish to risk quartering you are
ready to progress to the next stage, but if you

are feeling confident repeat the process on one
of the halves. Be sure to cut through from the
bark side otherwise you will find the split
difficult to direct.
With your quartered stave you are ready to
rough out the bow. Working only on the
heart wood, carve the bow to the dimensions
shown in the diagram. You can remove the
bark at this stage to better gauge the wood
thickness but on no account carve the pith
wood. With the carving go steady, avoiding
too deep a cut. .Use your eye to judge the
proportions and try to gain empathy with the
piece of wood you are working. This is very
important. Remember you are coaxing the
best out of the wood, not following some
magic formula for success; no two bows are
ever alike. You should try to visualise the bow
within the piece of wood you are working.
Once you have reached the outline plan you
are ready to put the magic into the bow. This
process is called tillering the bow and is where
you fine tune the bow to draw evenly to the
maximum of its power. You will need a length
of strong cordage as long as the bow roughout
and a tillering board which might simply be a
one metre straight branch with a forked end

Tillering a bow: the process of gradually testing the bow's pull; never rush this process.

99

into which you can carve notches for the
tilering process. Tie the ends of the cordage to
the ends of the bow and fit the forked end of
the tillering bar to the centre of the bow belly
and draw the bow string back to the first
notch you have carved in the bar about 15cm
from the fork. Prop this up and stand back.
You should be able to see any unevenness in
the drawn bow limbs. Taking your time, you
gradually carve the bow down keeping the
surface smooth until the string can be drawn
back to a notch about 5o-6ocm along the
tillering board. With practise you will be able
to achieve longer draws but this is a perfectly
adequate draw length to aim for. This process
cannot be hurried since to do so is to risk
ruining the bow. Once this is done you can
carve the notches to receive the bow string
and smooth the bow down with sand and
buckskin, finally coating the bow with warm
rendered fat to help protect it from the
elements. Apart from fitting the string, the
bow is finished. These bows tend not to have
the range of more sophisticated versions but
shoot hard and straight. The art of native
hunting after all is being able to stalk close to
the prey rather than to fell it from a distance.
Once you have mastered the manufacture
of this simple self bow there is no reason why
you should not attempt more complicated
designs incorporating recurved limbs and
sinew backing (see Bibliography).

choose a piece of rawhide that comes from a
part of the hide that is strong (see Chapter
Thirteen). You will need a circular piece of
hide at least 20cm in diameter and preferably
30cm. Cut this into a strip 6mm wide in the
usual spiral fashion, until you have a rawhide
whang twice the length of your bow. If you
are short of rawhide, one and a half times the
length will suffice. Soak the rawhide and
attach one end to a branch or similar fixed
point and begin twisting the whang until it
has a round cross section evenly all the way
along its length. Now stretch the string and let
it dry. That is all there is to it if you were
careful in your choice of hide and cut the
whang evenly. Before I attach my string I
usually smoke it and give it a slight greasing,
then soften the ends by soaking to facilitate
easier tying of suitable knots.
Making arrows: Arrows if they are to flystraight and fast and bend without breaking
when they have reached their target can be
harder to make than the bow. Modern
wooden arrows are made from large pieces of
wood cut down into many smaller arrowsized sections which are then turned to shape.
This method can be applied for backcountry
arrows but is unnecessary when shooting
saplings can be found of the correct diameter;
besides in my experience sapling arrows tend
to warp less.
The best native arrows are made from reeds
or wood which has been seasoned, in fact
hanging high in the tepee of most plains
Indians would be a bundle of a hundred or
more suitable shoots for arrow making,
seasoning for use. In fact amongst these
organised tribes there were specialist bow
makers and specialist arrow makers. According to some contemporary accounts ten
good arrows were valued as being worth a
horse. I most often use hazel for my arrows,
not because it has any special strength but
because it is easily available in a serviceable
size. The traditional arrow woods of English
archery are poplar and alder.
I usually collect suitable hazel wands in
February when the sap is down, but in
survival situations you will not be able to be
choosy. Select the straightest shoots you can
find, by doing so you will save yourself hours
of labour. Look especially for wood which has
been forced to grow straight in competition
for light, and cut them as cleanly as you are
able near to the ground, covering the open

Bowstrings: The hardest part of primitive
bow making is forming the string. A bow
string must be thin and yet strong enough to
resist snapping when the bow tries to snap
back to the straight. Very few plant fibres are
strong enough to resist this even when very
carefully prepared; the best are dogbane,
stinging nettle, yucca and rattan. For speed
and convenience I usually always opt for a
hide string, here you can use either gut which
has been stretched and twisted, sinew or
rawhide. Sinew will make the best string, but
beginners will find rawhide much easier to
work with.
There are two techniques you can use to
fashion a rawhide bow stringâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;either a two
strand string as described under cordage
(Chapter Eleven), or the single strand variety, which I prefer to use. The single strand
has the advantage of being quick and easy to
make and less sluggish than the two strandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
although what it gains in speed it loses in
strength. To make a single strand bowstrand
100

wound with soil. With care you should find
that the sapling will shoot again. This is how
coppicing begins. If you are able, gather the
wands into bundles of ten and lash them
together for seasoning. If you are not able to
season them, try to give them at least a day to
dry. Don't go overboard with your gathering
efforts though, collect only a number of
arrows you can deal with. Even with seasoned
wood it takes me a whole day to make four or
five good arrows!
The wands you have selected should be
about io-12mm in diameter including the
bark, which should now be scraped off. The
first step in the arrow making process is to
straighten out any obvious kinks; this is
achieved by gently heating the wood over a
slow fire to make it supple and then gently
bending the arrow straight with your hands.
Hold the wood until it is cool and it should
remain straight. Carry out this process from
the centre of the arrow and work first to one
end and then to the other. If the wood
scorches it is overheating. Some natives
preferred to use a wrench for removing
awkward kinks from an arrow but I find that
doing it with my fingers is more than
adequate for the task.
With the primary straightening complete
you can begin reducing the shaft to the
desired diameter. For this task I use a stone
scraper knapped (see Chapter Twelve) to a
concave shape, for the rough shaping
followed by a pair of sandstone blocks for
smoothing. This is a laborious but not
unpleasant task which by choice is a good
activity for a sunny afternoon in camp. The
arrow must now be cut to the desired length,
assuming the bow is made, measure it to be
5cm longer than the draw of your bow.
Effectively the difficult part of the arrow
making process is now complete, all that
remains is the fitting out. First you will need
to cut the notch. This can be accomplished in
one of three waysâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;either it can be sawn in,
using a saw of the bow string diameter or, it
can be cut and broken out orâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and this is the
way I notch all of my arrowsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it can be
drilled and cut using a stone drill. The
important thing is to shape the nock so that
the arrow does not split when cast by the
string. Notch the arrow at the opposite end to
accept the arrow head, this notch should be
cut at ninety degrees to the other so that when
the arrow is fitted to the bow the arrow head

Securely lash the arrow head in place with plant fibres or
sinew. Pine resin or hide glue helps.

Fletch the arrow with halved but untrimmed feathers.
Smooth the bindings down flush with the shaft.

Trim the flights to a long slender profile. Trim off any
loose ends of sinew.

The finished flight will have its own natural twist.

101

The type of fletching you choose will depend upon the use to which you intend the arrow to be put. The spiral fletching top
is intended for blunt pointed arrows used to bring down tree dwelling game (see *f' below). If the arrow lodges in the
branches the slightest movement causes the shaft to spin increasing the chances of its falling to the ground. Below this is a
fishing arrow (see 'a' below) with two fletchings. Used at close range this provides enough stabilisation. Below this are
three conventional three-feather fletched arrows for general hunting.

Arrow heads come in many shapes and sizes. All these were made by the author:
a) Fishing arrow, hazel shaft foreshafted with yew point fitted with antler barbs, b) Neolithic-style European arrowhead
affixed with pine resin, c & d) What are popularly referred to as war arrow heads made of flint hafted with sinew.
e) Serrated edge flint hunting point hafted with butterbur fibres, f) Bone pointed arrow left, blunt for hunting
tree-dwelling game. A sharp point would pin the game to the tree out of reach of the hunter, g) Barbed antler point typical
of design used for hunting amphibious mammals. Like a fishing arrow this arrow would be attached to the bow with a
long, thin but strong cord, h) Simple bone hunting point, i) Simple antler hunting point.

102

The secret to bowhunting is being able to stalk to within a few yards of your prey. Strike silently and unobserved to avoid
panicking the prey.

is horizontal, and at ninety degrees to the
bow. This is not as some traditionalists insist
to make the arrow pass more easily through
the horizontal ribs of a man (the arrow rotates
in flight) but is to help prevent the arrow
splitting should it strike bone. Fit the arrow
head into tlrc notch securing it with pine resin
or hide glue (see Chapter Eleven) and lashing
it securely in place with suitable fibres.
To enable the arrow to fly straight you will
need to flight it with split leaves or preferably
feathers. The favoured feathers for flighting
hunting arrows have traditionally been owl
feathers as they are silent in flight, but you
will have to use whatever comes your way; no
bird need ever be injured for the purpose of
arrow flighting as they leave plenty lying
around on the ground for the hunter. The
best flight is that made from three feathers. If
using wing feathers make certain to use
feathers that are from the same wing all left
or all right wing as otherwise they will bend
in different directions.

outside of necessity. Hunting with a bow from
a hunter's view point is the most challenging
of all as it tests the hunter's ability to stalk
with a limited range weapon. There is no
kudos to be gained from a long shot. But the
bow does have one deadly advantage over the
rifle: it is virtually silent and even at a range of
only, two or three metres will afford you in
most circumstances two shots. I do not
propose to cover at great length bow hunting
technique as it is really about the close stalk,
except to say that when I have quizzed other
people who have hunted with primitive
weapons out of necessity they all agreed that
it is the stalk which is exhilarating rather than
the kill, which even when absolutely necessary leaves a sense of remorse.
The techniques I have described here are
included for the sake of completeness. By
choice I would always rely upon food carried
in to an area when possible. It is a sad human
who finds pleasure in the needless slaughter of
his four-footed brothersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;though we must
also recognise the need to manage wildlife
populations by selective culling, an unpleasant reality forced upon us by the damage we
have already wrought on many species.

Bow Hunting
Hunting is never a beautiful activity, but can
be exhilarating which is why it is carried on
103

Tracking
'. . . I mean the tracks in the dust, the mud, or the snow.
'These are the inscriptions that every hunter, Red of
White, must learn to read infallibly. And, be the writing
strong or feint, straight or crooked, simple or overwritten
with many a puzzling diverse phrase, he must decipher and
follow swiftly, unerringly, if there is to be a successful ending
to the hunt which provides his daily food.'"
(Ernest Thompson Seton, 'Animal Tracks and Hunter Signs')

Sometimes I wish I had never become
interested in tracks, for the art of tracking is
totally addictive. Be warned, for once you
have successfully trailed a creature you will
no more be able to pass by a footprint or
disturbance than a bloodhound ignores a
scent. In the early morning and evening the
ground transforms itself into a library of true
wildlife adventures as the low light picks out
the fine nuances and details of every disturbance. Just as the radio operator can decipher
meaning from the dots and dashes of morse
code that travel the airways, so can the
tracker decipher the slots and slashes on the
land. In really perfect tracking conditions it is
easily possible to build up a very detailed
picture of life in a particular area of country.
Even the caution and wariness of wild
creatures at places of danger shows clearly,
enabling you to make the ultimate tracking
transformation and step into the mind of your
quarry seeing the terrain as if through its eyes.
It goes without saying that it is the ultimate
aim of any hunter to become as one with his
quarry and that if you can achieve this it
makes the difference between success and
virtual unfailing success. But this ability does
not come cheaply; it takes time and much
study.

It would be easy to fill volumes on tracking
but here we are interested only in tracking for
survival purposes, so that it is enough to know
what creature made what run, and how long
ago it last passed by. But tracking is one of
those subjects where it is difficult to separate
basic technique from more advanced technique because they are so closely intertwined.
For example you might study the trail left by
the mammals in your most common hunting
grounds, but then find a sign you do not
recognise and you are lost because you have
not learned why some creatures' tracks have
five visible toes and others only four. So my
aim here is to introduce you to the subject
from the grass roots yet leave you to read
more specialised books for the finer details.
Learning to Track
It was many years after I had learned to track
that I actually realised I had succeeded.
While I knew that following most trails was
within my capability I did not believe I could
match the fabled skills of trackers until I met
others who also could track. Now I realise
that tracking is one of those subjects much
glorified, though seldom exaggerated, by
Hollywood. Films are full of tall tales and
grizzly stories of'man tracking', and there are
104

many larger than life characters who make
great efforts to live up to such comic book
images. Tracking is not a mystic art, it is
simply a logical process of intelligence gathering by detailed observation, well within the
capabilities of anyone with the inclination
and dedication to learn how. There is no need
to have been suckled by a she-wolf and raised
by savages to master tracking; invariably the
better trackers I have met are quiet unassuming folk who shun loud claims of tracking
skills. They would rather be on the trail than
talking about what they have done.
Tracking is a complicated business and
involves several distinct activities; the identification of sign, interpretation of sign, and
following of sign. So where to start learning?
This is not an easy question to answer. I first
became interested in tracking by learning to
identify the tracks of foxes from the multitude
of local dog tracks when there was snow on
the ground. As time passed I was able to
identify the fox runs, and as the snow
disappeared and the ground hardened, my
tracking abilities increased. As the weather
changed the runs also changed, although they
would still meet up at fence crossings and
marking posts so that I could pick up and
follow the new trails. This new information
also gave me a detailed insight into the mind
of my quarry. I learned for instance how a fox
will always try to use thick cover to approach
something that has caught his attention,
disappearing only to reappear cautiously
much nearer to whatever it is. I was able to
spend many hours watching a vixen guarding
her cubs while they played at springing on
each other with their unique and delicate
hunting pounce. I have spent many nights
sitting in a tangle of hawthorn scrub listening
to the sounds of carnage as a fox has caught
an unsuspecting bird, rabbit or vole and
watched as it has hidden the meal before
vanishing. On one occasion I stole the fox's
meal for my own so that it did my hunting for
me. When in close contact with such a
beautiful and intelligent wild creature you
gain a powerful feeling of kinship.

time on the trail.
Learning to track can start at any time of
the year; it is a slow business which involves a
gradual improvement of observation and a
tuning in to the finest signs. Tracking is much
less about following obvious tracks than most
people would imagine; anyone can follow a
string of tracks. Tracking is about spotting the
scuffs and minor disturbances where to an
untrained eye there are no discernible marks
of a creature's passage. The absolute rule for
learning to track is to do so in the outdoors;
books can only be a guide to identifying what
you find and targeting what to look for. Start
slowly, do not try to run befqre you can walk;
pick a particular area of country to study
tracking on; try to choose an area with ups,
downs and level ground with a wide variety of
different vegetation although don't be over
ambitious. It is better to choose a less ideal
area that you can travel to easily and
frequently, than an area with very diverse
conditions that is too far away.
Next, from the guidance below, choose a
specific aspect of sign to concentrate on to the
exclusion of all others. If you can make the
aim even more specific by targeting a specific
animal that lives in the area you have chosen,
you may decide for example, to concentrate
on finding hairs, and more specifically badger
hairs. Each time you hit the trails in your
training area pick a different aspect of
tracking to concentrate onâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;remember to the
exclusion of all other aspects! The aim here is
to discover just how much sign is available to
you and how much can be learned from one
source. Do not break the exclusion rule until
you have searched for each aspect of sign
listed below. When all these aspects have been
studied at least once, hit the trail in search of
sign, any sign. Having found a signâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;perhaps
a dog hair, try to find the other types of sign
which match up with the hair and begin to
build a mental picture of the animal you are
following. Now you can begin spooring as
described below.
Sign
Sign is the term used by trackers to refer to
the subtle hints they follow. The largest
difficulty you face when learning to track is
that you are likely to be training in an area
near a town or village that is therefore
relatively heavily frequented by people. If this
is so you face being bombarded with sign and

In all this trailing I never once considered
that I was learning to track but that is
precisely what I was doing; I regret now not
having kept a naturalist's notebook or taken
any photographs, for now when I would keep
a record and use a camera to supplement my
income, I have fewer opportunities to spend
105

the likelihood of the trail you are following
being obliterated by other passers by. This is
an everyday fact of tracking, but don't let it
discourage you; this is good training. By the
time you start your first backcountry trail you
will find the going astonishingly easy, as with
much less competition from confusing and
obliterating sign you can concentrate solely
on the trail you are following.
I think in terms of sign in two categories:
'definite' sign and 'indefinite' sign. On a
difficult trail you will find that for much of the
time you are following indefinite sign, marks
which by themselves are not evidence enough
to indicate a specific target. Only occasionally
when conditions allow will you find a definite
sign to confirm you are still on the correct
trail. Always as a general rule search for more
than one piece of sign to corroborate the
evidence you have already found.
Footprints: These are the most obvious of
all signs and barely need any explanation
save to say that they should be very carefully
studied when found in good conditions as
they may be your best opportunity to really
come to terms with the individual target or
targets you are following. Often scars and
unusually worn claws will show in the print.
In many cases these are also a good clue to the
species that made them.
Partial Prints: Here it may or may not be
possible to identify the individual but there is
nearly always enough information to indicate
that you are following the correct species,
although you will need to use some care here
since for example, a partial print of a British
badger can very easily be mistaken for a cat
track. Don't jump to conclusions.

General
Ground
Disturbance:
Although tracks and signs are part of the
overall picture of the outdoors and their
absence would seem unusual, put in their
context they are in fact out of place variations
in the pattern of the ground and vegetation.
Any anomalies in the ground pattern must be
carefully scrutinised to determine whether
they were made by a passing creature or
falling vegetation. Look also for colour or
texture changes.
Transfer: Anyone who has played football
or rugby will be familiar with the casts of mud
piled outside the changing room door, each of
which shows the unmistakable impression of
the boot studs it has left; these are transfer
tracks. Likewise, the muddy paw prints across

the living room where a faithful pet has come
indoors are transfer tracks. A transfer track or
sign is therefore any sign where one material
has been picked up in passing and transferred
onto another. I also include in this category
the 'sign' of where the material has been
transferred from, i.e. the muddy hole or the
gap in an otherwise even sprinkling of
blossom on the floor or a hawthorn wood in
spring.
Sometimes a transferred sign is too fine to
be picked out by sight alone; a classis case is
on the sea shore where the target has walked
from sand onto pebble or rock. At first you
will see obvious damp partial prints and
transferred sand, but then the trail will begin
to fade so that the further you follow the trail
the less sand you will find. If you can guess or
think you know where the next track might be
you can lick your palm and press it on the
rocks at that point. Any really fine grains of
sand will adhere to your palm, indicating a
transferred sign. Now, taking your other hand
repeat the process, but on a rock where you
can see no sign and think that there is little
chance of there being a track. Depending on
the freshness of the trail you are following,
your first attempt should show a higher
concentration of sand than the second 'control' attemptâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;indicating you are on the trail.
Reflection: This sign is only visible in
certain lighting conditions; it is caused by the
passing of the target altering the ground or
vegetation so that where it passes there is
either a shiny trail or a dull trail in a
landscape that would otherwise catch the
light. There are two classic occurrences of this
sign, the first of which is the field of long grass
where the angle of the depressed grass is
different from its neighbour's (therefore reflecting the light differently). In this situation
you can either follow the individually disturbed patches of grass or you can follow the
reflection sign where you can read large
distances of tracks at a time and which is
therefore quicker.
The second classic reflection sign is where
there is a smooth surface and the dust has
been lifted on the feet of the target leaving
shiny patches. This is not a transfer track
because without the unique lighting consideration you would not have detected the
transfer (see also Dew).
Fall out: Nothing to do with radiation or
atomic bombs, 'fall out' is literally what it
106

sounds like items which have fallen or been
dropped on the trail. The classic human fall
out sign is the discarded cigarette, while in the
predators world it is the downy feather or
wing from a captured bird. The most amusing
fall out sign I have ever come across was a
perfect trail of cornflakes which led to a scout
who was carrying a cartoon-like load of a
rucksack with a kettle swinging on the outside
and a large, leaking family-sized packet of
cornflakes pushed haphazardly through the
straps.
Droppings: Believe it or not, droppings
are one of the most useful signs for any tracker
or hunter. Many species of animals have very
distinctly shaped and sized droppings. But
more than this, they will also reveal the
animal's state of health and much about its
diet. All this is invaluable information for the
trapper. See below for details.
Feeding signs; Other vital signs for the
trapper are feeding signs; these show where the
target prefers to eat and what it prefers to eat.
These signs range from food stashed away, to
the actual feeding site. By carefully studying
the material which has been eaten it is often
possible to identify the species responsible, by
studying the marks left by the teeth and the
way in which the meal has been eaten. For
example, the sparrow hawk leaves a very
distinctive kill site of a carcass of a small bird
such as a robin or sparrow with its head
severed and frequently missing. The flesh is
plucked clean of the spine, usually leaving the
spine and wings attached to the tail.
Dens: Dens are an excellent starting place
for your tracking activities as you are able to
follow one of a variety of exit trails and study
where the target goes and what it doesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;vital
information for naturalist or hunter alike.
The home or sleeping place of an animal is
not an easy place to hunt however as the
creature will be cautious entering or leaving
the area although it can be a useful site for a
trap which may lie idle until the creature has
accepted it as non threatening. There are
exceptions though, once you have found a
rabbit's burrow for example, you should be
able to fish him out by wrapping a stick in
brambles, pushing it into the den and turning
it to snag in his fur enabling you to pull him
out.
Above ground disturbances: Broken
flowers, fallen petals, snapped twigs and
thorns, torn cobwebs or snow brushed off the

tips of branches which overhang a trail. These
are all signs which may prove valuable as
corroborating information. It is all too easy
when tracking to only search the ground for
sign and forget anything above. If we consider
the location of sign on a vertical scale, based
around a six-foot-tall human being, about
65% of sign will be found on the ground, 20%
between ground and waist height, 5% from
waist height to top of the head and 10%
above head height which will mainly be sign
from birds and tree dwelling creatures. This
being the case, it is all too easy to only look at
the ground, but remember this is a serious
tracking fault and try to always look above as
well.
Debris damage: On most trails there is a
greater or lesser amount of fallen leaves, twigs
and branches, decaying fungi and other
debris lying on the ground. Depending on the
weight and foot size of the target, a varying
amount of damage will be done to this debris
in passing. Learn to become aware of this and
to recognise individual signs such as the
puncture marks made in a leaf by claws as
opposed to the holes eaten by a caterpillar or
insect.
Tangled leaves: In areas of dense or tall
vegetation, particularly crops and long
grasses, look for signs of tangled stems and
leaves. As an animal pushes through these
areas the vegetation is pushed aside and
swings back after the animal has passed by. In
this way the material is fanned and tangles
itself with an action similar to shuffling cards.
Depending on the vegetation, strong breezes
can either free it or make the tangle worse.
Scuffs: Unlike the paved trails of the
urban environment, backcountry trails weave
in and around trees and bushes and are full of
bumps, raised roots and half-buried rocks.
Inevitably, as an animal passes by these
protrusions they become scuffed and
bruisedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;particularly roots which may lose
their bark or moss covering. At first glance the
scuff may seem unimportant but always take
the time to study it closer; there can be a
surprising amount of detail recorded there.
Dew: This is the classic tracker's sign. As a
target moves through an area covered in dew
it wipes the dew off on to its feet or other part
of its body, leaving a dark patch in an
otherwise highly light reflective surface. In
good conditions it is often possible to follow a
dew trail with great ease for some distance. I
107

The dog family. Tracks, droppings and trails, left to right, of dog, wolf, fox.

once followed the dew trail of a man who was
following the dew trail left by a confused roe
deer. Eventually the trail led into a wood
where I noted the man had lost the trail and
had taken the wrong turning; he had missed
the 'transfer' sign of water droplets which had
been deposited in passing, on nearby dog's
mercury leaves. Remember that the dew is
picked up by the passing target and is highly
likely to show up as a transfer when the
terrain changes.

the trails of unfamiliar animals, but under all
other circumstances you should familiarise
yourself with the target and learn to recognise
its habits and the way it lives its life. Make
certain you can recognise its tracks, its
droppings, its hairs, as well as the type of
home it builds.
The first stage of learning to identify tracks
is to learn to differentiate between the trails of
various families of related speciesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as the
cat family and the dog family. Once this is
done you can then learn to differentiate
between the individual species within those
families. This is not always easy. For example,
it can be impossible in some circumstances to
differentiate between the tracks of a large dog
and those of a wolf. In such instances you
must fall back on corroborating evidence.
The following are the generalised track and
dropping characteristics for the principle
species families. Space does not allow for a
more detailed exploration of the family
members, but given the ability to differentiate

The Art of Tracking
So far we have glimpsed the range of sign or
spoor available to the tracker, but this is only
the information a tracker uses to pursue his
art. There are three basic stages in learning to
track once you can spot the available spoor.
These stages also represent the general order
in which a track analysis is carried out.
Stage Oneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Track Identification
In a survival situation you may be faced with
108

The cat family. Tracks top left to right: bobcat, domestic cat, mountain lion, bottom left lynx. Gat droppings show
distinctive carnivore's tail and some segmentation.

between the tracks and droppings of the
principal families and the ability to recognise
sign, you should be able to piece the rest of the
picture together through careful observation
and interpretation (Stage Two below). By
principal families I refer to those directly
relevant to a survival situation that involves
either food or safety.
When I come across a track or dropping I
compare it to an archetypal track design I
carry in my mind. This is a compilation of the
major distinguishing features. In reality the
track that you are studying may appear very
different from this, either because of the
individual characteristics of the target's foot
or due to distortions attributable to the
ground conditions. Despite this, at least two of
the key features are usually represented,
which when backed up by further substantiating evidence or local knowledge should
give you a positive identification of the
species.
Mote: Never handle droppings with your

The Dog Family (dog, wolf, fox)
The tracks of members of the dog family tend
to be longer than they are wide, and are
generally an oval shape overall. Commonly
four toes will show forrboth fore and hind feet,
with accompanying claw marks. As a general
rule wild dogs and working country dogs
leave sharp claw prints whereas domestic
dogs that walk frequently on paved surfaces
will leave blunt claw prints. In general, dogs
register but not directly. This means that they
place their hind feet on top of the track left by
their fore feet but not so perfectly as to totally
hide or obliterate it. Those members of the
family that are good hunters, or working
dogs, such as sheep dogs, will more directly
register than domestic pets. The classic 'direct
registering' dog is the fox who frequently
leaves a trail which shows only the hind
109

Above: The weasel family. Top left: the left fore print of a weasel. Next to it the right fore print and below respectively the
left and right hind prints. Middle top is the badger's track; the fifth toe frequently does not show. Weasel family droppings
are squiggly, smelly and often very liquid. Far right: badger trail; left of this, weasel trail in snow.
Below: The rabbit order. Individual rabbit tracks rarely show although you can often see the scratches from their claws.
Rabbit droppings are distinctive pea-like pellets comprising fibrous plant material. In snow you will often come across the
distinctive rabbit trails like double exclamation marks.

no

prints. This has been the source of many
stories told by gamekeepers of the fox
tip-toeing into the hen house on his hind legs.
The droppings of the dog family vary
widely in size, and are relative to the size of
the species. They are probably the most
familiar dropping to modern man, being
cylindrical in shape usually in one piece, and
often with a tail. The colour of the dropping
will vary greatly according to diet. For
example a fox dropping is often white during
the spring when he enjoys a glut of unwary
young mammals, which supply him with
plentiful quantities of calcium in the form of
their bones. During the autumn however
berries play a more predominant part in the
fox's diet, turning the dropping black. A
typical feature of a fox's droppings is the
frequency with which they are found on a
raised mound which he uses as a marking
post.

animal is so well adapted to stealth and
stalking. Cat tracks are round tending to oval
in their overall shape, and are generally wider
than they are long. Similar to members of the
dog family, their tracks show four toes front
and hind but only show their claws in
exceptional circumstances such as very soft
snow. A characteristic very typical of a cat
track is the way in which the interdigital pad
is cleft. Unlike dogs, cats directly register most
of the time when walking, placing their rear
foot onto the depression left by the fore foot
with absolute precision and almost in a
straight line. In snowy conditions you could
almost swear that the cat was using a pogo
stick to avoid cold paws. I once found a line of
evenly placed cat tracks in soft snow, which
when examined, showed the cat's claws. The
odd thing was that the claws showed both in
front and behind the track, indicating that
the cat had travelled first one way and then
returned retracing its footprints absolutely
perfectly.
Cat droppings are cylindrical (like dog
droppings) but are more frequently segmented; they also show a tail though less often
than dogs. Colour varies widely with diet and

The Cat Family (wild cat, civet, lynx,
mountain lion)
Proud feline grace and menace show clearly
in the tracks of the cat family. From a
tracker's perspective no other four-footed

The deer family. The individual tracks are, from left to right: Red, Fallow and Roe Deer, and respectively for the droppings.
The most noticeable difference between the tracks is size. Often you may find the droppings stuck together into an
elongated mass called a fewmet.

Ill

undigested remains in the dropping may often
indicate the cat's carnivorous diet. Depending
on specific species characteristics, the
droppings may be wholly or partially buried.

nails. I have often found useful stone working
materials in prodigious mounds of flint
excavated by local badgers, while the everalert weaselâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a pure hunting machineâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will
sometimes tackle prey larger than itself. The
droppings of this family tend to be long and
squiggly with a characteristic carnivour's tail,
and a very distinct weasely smell. The badger,
fastidious house keeper that it is, will often
excavate a latrine into which it lays its
droppings. Sometimes these are more runny
than solid although the odour remains.

The Weasel Family (weasels, badgers,
stoats, ferrets, polecats)
The weasel family contains a wide range of
species each of which can vary enormously in
size from the other (i.e. the weasel and the
badger). In all cases the track is longer than it
is broad although often it appears broader
than it is long due to only a partial impression
being visible. The distinguishing feature of
this family is the five toes with claws showing
on both fore and rear feet. Under imperfect
conditions it is a common mistake to miss the
fifth digit and mistake the track for that of a
four-toed creature. But even when the fifth
outer toe cannot be seen, you should become
suspicious when you see the inner digit widely
spaced from its neighbour's while remaining
more or less parallel, indicating a wide foot.
The members of this family are as tough as

The Rabbit Order (hare)
Rabbit tracks are best studied in the grouping
of their stride as this is how you will most
often find them. But for survival purposes this
is not the most valuable sign to search for.
Better by far is to look for the close-cropped
vegetation and raised, dropping-covered
sentry mounds. Rabbits will graze an area to
the smoothness of a golf course using their
razor sharp incisors. Lt is important that you
study the vegetation the rabbits are feeding

The bear family: The tracks of very wide-bodied heavy animals are large, often deep, and frequently overlap. Their
droppings are large and full of plant and insect remains as well as berry stones. You may also come across scratching
posts which will give you an indication of how tall the bear stands at full reach.

112

each spring; usually during the iirst three
weeks of April.

on if you intend to trap or hunt themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they
are immune to deadly nightshade for instance
but if you eat a rabbit that has eaten it, you
can be poisoned. Rabbit droppings are easy
to recognise: they are brown spherical balls of
fibrous plant remains that dry and eventually
crumble to dust. These droppings occur
widely in any area grazed by rabbits or hares.
A hare moving fast across deep snow can
leave very confusing tracks especially if
making a turn. It is generally true to say that
inexperienced trackers under-estimate the
stride length of many creatures; this is
certainly the case with hares who are really
able to leap using their powerful hind legs. In
deep snow the traces of this galloping motion
are greatly enlarged, leaving huge sweeping
footprints with long distances between them.

The Bear Family
I can remember the heart-pounding excitement of finding my first bear track while
on holiday in Yosemite; it was both the most
exciting track and yet the most disappointing
for there was not time to follow it to see where
it led. To an untrained eye a bear track which
shows five toes with claws fore and hind, can
be confused with those of a barefoot man;
particularly the black bear's forefoot track.
But as a bear is a four-footed creature and
walks with a distinctly flat-footed, toed-in
posture typical of heavy weight four foots, this
mistake should not be made.
Bears can cause considerable problems in
the backcountry. When you are in bear
country you are in the bear's domain and
must pay due respect to these much maligned
creatures. The great problem is that humans
tend to expect bears to think like a human,
but to a bear things are very different. His
major preoccupation is finding food an^l no
creature that I have ever observed is more
industrious in this labour than the bear as he
grubs up roots and ants' nests to meet his
insatiable appetite. Should he smell that
tastiest of all morsel though, the sizzling meat
on a barbecue, or any other camp fare for that
measure, resign yourself to the fact that he
will compete for it. Never argue with a
salivating bear; that is the number one rule.
In bear country keep all your food suspended
high out of bear reach and take every effort to
reduce smells, both when cooking, or just in
your own personal hygiene. Women must also
take great care during their menstrual cycle
as there is evidence to suggest that this has
attracted bears. If you do have the misfortune
to fall into bear claws the general advice is to
shield your throat and genitals with your
hands and no matter what happens, to play
dead. There are enough scarred but living
survivors of bear attacks to attest to this
policy. A bear, even grizzlies, usually attack
because they feel threatened; if you fight back
they will only bite harder, but if you play
dead the theory is that you lose your threat
value and they will lose interest and leave.

The Deer Family
Deer have been a challenge to trackers and
hunters for centuries. I used to know a game
keeper who managed a herd of deer and could
identify each member of the herd by its tracks
alone. In Britain the tracks of deer are by
tradition called slots and this is a very apt
description. Deer are cloven hooved and in
most cases leave two, more or less parallel
slots for each foot with a slight register. In soft
ground such as a stream, bank, mud or snow,
the 'dew claws' may also leave a mark; these
are found much higher up the deer's foot. The
size and general shape of the slots are an
indication of species but this can be very
confusing, especially when there are young
deer moving with old. Always try to substantiate your suspicion by corroborating
evidence.
Deer droppings are a far more reliable
guide to the species than are their slots. In
general you will find small mounds of
droppings in deer country. Because a deer will
leave droppings as it moves along, you can
very often find a pile of droppings with a
gradually decreasing trail of droppings leading away from it; an excellent indication of
the direction which the deer has taken.
Deer also leave other indications of their
presenceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as obvious feeding signs
where they have browsed vegetation to the
full height of their reach, or bruises where
stags have been rubbing away the velvet from
their antlers. Not all species of deer shed their
antlers but those that do will leave a very
useful commodity for the backwoodsman

Better still, avoid being mauled in the first
place. In some parts of North America and
Canada, hikers are encouraged to wear a bell
on their sack to let the bears know they are
113

The rodent order. Characteristically, rodent tracks have five toes in the rear foot and four in the fore. Top right are the hind
and fore track of a mouse, left of this are the tracks of a squirrel. Most rodents have cylindrical droppings but the squirrel
has moist pea-like droppings.

there and give them time to move away. If
you have no bell try singing; a rousing chorus
from Gilbert and Sullivan should do the trick.
After all this talk of bear attack you
probably expect bear droppings to comprise
the mangled torsos of unfortunate hikers, but
that is not the case. Despite their fearsome
reputation bears are omnivorous and would
rather be eating berries, insects and small
game than people. Their droppings are large
and cylindrical, often found in piles, and
contain the remains of all manner of foods.
Also look out for bear marking and scratching
posts.
An interesting point to note is that all
across the world native people have revered
the bear as a good luck symbol. Particularly
in Native American societies the bear was
believed to be able to impart supernatural
strength and power by appearing to a warrior
in a dream. This led to bear cult societies in
many tribes, where warriors would dress and
paint themselves to represent bears. Also the
bear was believed to be a teacher of herbal

medicines and many native American plant
medicines are claimed to have been learned
from observing bears curing their own
ailments.
The Squirrel Family
(rats, mice, water rats)
Squirrels are rodents and as with the weasel
family there is a wide range of different sized
members. The key to identifying their tracks
is that they show four toes on the fore feet and
five toes on the hind feet, with claws present
for both. The family includes rats which
prefer to live near water. This can cause
serious problems for the travellers as rats
carry a disease called Leptospirosis (Weil's
disease) which they pass into the water
through their urine. This disease is a killer
unless correctly diagnosed early on; it is
contracted by the disease organism entering
your blood stream through an open wound or
through the membranes of your eyes, nose,
mouth, or ears as well as by drinking. For this
reason never trap or kill rats for food, and
114

runs very similarly to the way a rabbit walks.
Spend as much time as you can studying these
patterns because they will enable you to
decide where the next track on the trail
should be—a vital skill for following the trail.
To help fully understand the meaning of
the tracks you are studying you will also need
to know at what time of day they were made,
or how fresh they are. This is not an easy skill
to learn—again requiring much diligent
study—but with practise you should be able
to estimate the age of a track to within
minutes—although you must remember that
each soil type ages at a different rate. The
easiest way to estimate the age of a track is to
make a similar mark next to the track for
comparison and then estimate the age using
your observations for how quickly the track
will fade, taking into account the prevailing
weather conditions. Don't be dismayed if
your early attempts at ageing are inaccurate;
this is a very difficult task which even many
experienced trackers get wrong. Generally
though your ageing estimates will improve
with your tracking experience as you increase
your subconscious data bank.

learn to recognise their sign so that you can
avoid any nearby water. It is unlikely that
you will be using a large body of water or
stagnant pool for your water supply but you
may be searching for edible plants in the
vicinity of such an area, in which case the
plants must be washed and preferably
cooked.
Rodent droppings show a variety that
matches their order. Squirrel droppings for
instance are pea sized and pea shaped
whereas rat and mice droppings are sausage
shaped and vary in accordance with the size
of the maker. All though comprise finely
chewed matter which is plasticine-like in
texture when first dropped, hardening with
age.
Stage Two—Track Interpretation
This is where you have the chance to be
Sherlock Holmes, for track interpretation is a
process of logical deduction. But to be
successful, you must have done your home
work and studied the behaviour and lifestyle
of your target -for now you are not only
attempting simple identification but you are
trying to determine what went on and in some
cases what the target's immediate future
intentions are most likely to be. To be able to
make these deductions you need to be able to
take in the whole scene yet remain aware of
all the detail. When I look at a track or a trail
I am not able to tell at first glance the full
story, it takes a few moments for the tracks to
register in my mind. Rather like watching an
old TV screen warming up, or a photograph
emerging from the developing tray, only the
obvious features are apparent at first but then
the finer details begin to reveal themselves
until the full record can be scanned and
absorbed ready for analysis. Now you can
build a mental picture of what went on; to do
this you should use your mind's eye to picture
the animal making the tracks. Of course this
ability only comes from much study of the
way animals move.
Each animal has its own distinct way of
moving or standard walking gait, which
registers as a distinct pattern on the ground. If
the animal's mood changes or it changes
speed from its normal gait, so too will this
pattern change. Watch a dog or better still a
cat, see how it walks then watch as it breaks
into a run. Study it as it stalks and plays. You
will notice if you study the tracks that a dog

Stage Three—Following Up
The last stage in the tracking process is
'following up'. This is simply the process of
finding every track on the trail. It is easy to
skip a few tracks that are not so easy to see but
this is poor tracking. Once you have identified
a trail stay on it, follow every sign and make
interpretations whenever you can or need to,
such as at trail junctions, or changes in gait.
Your aim is to get inside the mind of the
target. Remember to look around and view
the terrain from the target's height; sniff the
air. A common fault with tracking students is
to fail to interpret the points on a trail where
the target stopped to sniff either the ground or
vegetation; this for him is an important part
of his information gathering, which is not
available to us. We may smell the scent mark
but cannot unravel the code of its maker and
other complex signals it most likely holds. We
have to second guess this by studying the
target's behaviour changes.
As you follow a trail make certain you keep
the track between you and the light source
and be careful not to carelessly obliterate sign
you have not yet read. The general rule is not
to move until you have spotted the next two
sign. This cannot be overstressed; careless
115

movement is the cause of most tracking
failures. If you do lose the trail, return to the
last positive track you found and carry out a
detailed sweep search of the vicinity. If the
animal has leapt ahead or sideways this
should be indicated in the last track you could
find. Don't give in, it is the difficult sign which
teaches you the most!
I have had the great fortune to have
tracked alongside many tracking experts in

many different areas. Each uses a different
system for following tracks and has a different
mental approach to the task. But the above is
the kernel of skill common to all. It would be
easy to fill several volumes on this subject but
it is better that you make your own discoveries through experience. Remember you will
gain more by learning the movements and
habits of one animal really well, than by
learning the movements of many not so well.

116

Trapping and Fishing
'We had no cattle, no hogs, no grain, only berries and roots
and game and fish. We never thought that we would be
troubled about these things, and I tell you my people, and I
believe, it is not wrong for us to get this food. Whenever the
seasons open I raise my heart in thanks to the Creator of His
bounty that this food has come.'
(Chief Weninock of the Yakima Nation from the 'Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Soc', New Series Vol 13,
1928)

Despite its more macabre aspects, trapping is
a fascinating study of both wildlife and
engineering. I have yet to meet a skilful
trapper who traps to feed his family who does
not have a great love and respect for his prey.
This comes from many hours watching and
following the prey. It is one thing to sit at
home and watch wildlife documentaries,
another altogether to sit and shiver in the
wind and rain as you share the sounds and
smells of wild living with the creature you are
watching. No matter how cold hearted a man
is, he cannot fail to be moved by the essence of
the wild. Many people do not realise that it is
not the trapper who should be feared but the
person who has not learned to appreciate the
living soil beneath his feet or to listen for the
sounds of a changing season, or the songs of
the feathered family. Hunting and being
hunted is part of nature; they are an
inevitable part of the cycle of life, an everyday
fact for survivor or native alike.
The great advantage of traps is that they
free your hands for other tasks and enable you
to be hunting at night when your senses are
less effective. But they are not as simple to
operate as they first appear, you cannot just
set a trap and hope to find it has been
successful. A correctly set trap is placed with

precision with as many factors of chance
eliminated as possible. Wild animals are not
stupid; all of their senses have been honed by
natural selection to enable them to survive the
many hazards in their path. Above all, they
have learned the smell and mark of man, the
most dangerous of all their enemies. To
succeed at trapping you must, just as in
hunting, be able to see and think like your
prey, and be practised at constructing the
various designs of trap you may elect to use.
I place faith in my reader's integrity and
the strict laws which control the use of
trapping devices. The use of the traps here
described is only acceptable to procure meat
in real wilderness emergencies out of dire
necessity. However, even if you do not ever
think you will need to use a trap don't pass by
the subject; it has much to teach the outdoors
person and you need never kill or hurt an
animal in any way to benefit from trapping
skill. At the end of the trapping section you
will find a diagram of how to adapt a
primitive trap trigger to trip the shutter
release of a camera. By using this technique
you will absorb the finer points of the
trapper's art and gain field practise, without
killing animals unnecessarily.
You will find below a large number of trap
117

designs, cunning and ingenious triggers developed over centuries of experimentation, to
meet a wide variety of prey and conditions.
But trapping is only ten per cent a mechanical
skill. The real secret of successful trapping is a
detailed study of the prey's life. An
understanding so perfect that you can see and
think like it does.

passed by it, a trigger bar would release it
causing it to spring straight against a log. This
startled the rabbit so that it sprang to flight
through the run opening where the snare was
ready and waiting.
Baited traps must be sited in a different
way; they make their mark by actively luring
the target to them. In general they are better
sited away from trails and placed instead near
areas where the prey feeds, or marks its
territory. The bait must also be correctly
chosen for the intended prey.
Talk of bait and immediately the question
arises what does your prey eat? But this
presupposes you intend to bait the trap with a
tasty morsel. Baiting need not solely be
accomplished with food. In many ways a
scent is a more practical bait than food. A
scent is more pungent and has a greater range
than food. Above all else it is far more
irresistible, often catching the attention of an
animal even when it has eaten. A scent bait is
also easy to obtain and will attract many
visitors during the night. To obtain a scent
bait the old fur trappers would save the scent
glands from their prey, but in a survival
situation there is a much easier way. Having
found a scent marking post (if you have done
your homework this should not be difficult for
you to locate), tie or otherwise fix a large
bundle of dry plant material (similar to a
tinder bundle or dew mop) to the marking
post. Leave this for a few days until it has
been marked and absorbed the scent. Now
site your trap and bait it with the scent
bundle.
If you are relying upon food for your bait it
must be tailored to suit the prey. Carnivores
should be attracted using a suitably sized
piece of meat or better still a small fish. This is
about the best way to turn an earthy fleshed
bony fish into a decent meal. Herbivores
however must be attracted to the food they
prefer to eat. Here you must study their
feeding signs carefully to determine what to
use for bait. In general it is better to use neck
or leg-hold spring snares with this type of bait.
This is because the animal tends to snip the
vegetation cleanly or tear it by tugging,
making it difficult to guarantee a clean kill
with a deadfall snare.

Siting
The most important aspect of trapping is
knowing where to site the trap. It is no use
just setting a trap and hoping that you will be
lucky; the trap must be placed either where
the animal is likely to pass by or where it will
arouse his curiosity without causing too much
suspicion. The simplest and one of the most
effective places to locate a trap is on a 'run', a
frequently-used animal trail which is easily
spotted as an area with compressed and
parted vegetation. Very often runs are used
by more than one species so try to select a
smaller run leading off of the more well used
one which is more likely to be the preserve of
the species you are after. Look especially for
hairs to help you in your identification.
So long as your trap is not obvious, a run is
an excellent place for siting an unbaited trap
such as a snare. The best placing for your
snare along a run is near the run's end where
the prey will be preoccupied with the dangers
of crossing open ground or a more well-used
run. It is absolutely vital that the trap be
correctly camouflaged, blending unobtrusively into the surroundings de-scented or the
cent disguised. Place some twigs and small
sticks either side of the snare or trap to act as a
funnel (see below) to help prevent the prey
passing around the side of the trap. Your aim
is to completely surprise the prey, catching
him when his mind is preoccupied or he feels
confident. This means' that you must be at
great pains to avoid disturbing the surrounding vegetation when you are setting the trap.
Any broken vegetation will give off scents
which will alert the prey, as will any major
changes to the run itself. A really expert
trapper will use the caution and curiosity of
creatures to his advantage by setting a decoy
to distract the prey's attention as it nears the
trap. One game keeper showed me a rabbit
snare which he claimed never failed. It
comprised a simple 'wire' sited on a run which
led onto a field. About a metre in front of the
snare was a sapling, bent so that as the rabbit

Funnelling
As its name suggests, funnelling is the
118

technique used to guide a target into your
trap, though the technique varies according
to whether you are using baited traps or
unbaited traps. With an unbaked trap you
are trying at all stages of the setting to avoid
drawing attention to its presence. All that is
needed are a few carefully positioned sticks to
convince the prey that the easiest path to
follow is that which leads into your trap. If
you were to build a rigid wall of sticks with a
single opening you will only scare the prey
away. After all if you were walking home your
usual way and suddenly found a brick wall
across your path with one opening in it
wouldn't you be suspicious?
Baited traps though are a different proposition. Because you can more or less predict
your prey's movements when it reaches the
bait you can build a more substantial wall
which funnels the prey into the trap precisely.
You may need to wall in the bait to prevent
the prey circumventing your snare or
deadfall. An obvious wall is feasible in this
situation because of the strong enticement of
the bait which will overcome the prey's
natural caution. This docs not mean though
that just any wall can be built: it remains
important to build as small a wall as will
successfully do its job.

predators who will as surely as you take
advantage of unguarded food. Deadfalls on
the other hand must be heavy enough to
break the prey's back cleanly; ideally they
should fall swiftly from some height and act
with a scissor or hammer action against a
solid anvil -such as a log or rock -rather
than against soft earth. It is also important
that the trigger remains firmly set so that the
prey doesn't have time to escape or shift
position and thereby become maimed.
In conditions of extreme cold, some triggers
may lose iheir efficiency by freezing or
becoming weighed down by snow. Spring
snares in particular, which rely upon a bent
sapling as the twitch-up spring, should be
avoided as they will freeze solid. Rely instead
upon the counter balance tossing bar method.
Setting a Trap Line
To trap effectively you need to approach the
subject in an organised manner, moving into
your preselected area with prefabricated
traps and setting them quickly, quietly and
efficiently, to cause the minimum disturbance. Always set more than one trap to
maximise your chances, a usual number for
survival purposes would be between five and
ten. It is no use trying to learn to make trap
triggers when you actually need to use them;
it is a simple matter to practise setting traps
without any need to actually catch anything.
Making traps is a slow process; they cannot
just be quickly made as is suggested by the
drawings below. In real situations you do not
have perfectly straight wood to work with and
you will most likely be alone without any
helping hands to steady heavy deadfall
weights while you set the trigger. The man
who said that traps are a means of hunting
without effort was obviously no trapper. It is a
slow, tiring, strenuous and frustrating
business.
Before you start to manufacture or even
gather the raw materials for your traps, wash
and disguise the scent on your hands and
cutting tools. I usually wash my hands with a
natural soap of some sort and then dry them
in the smoke of a fire. Woodsmoke does not
overly bother wild creatures as it is a natural
odour familiar to them. I will also de-scent
my feet or shoes before entering the trapping
area in teh same way. This may be unnecessary, but it is a tradition I have always
followed. In the process of making the traps,

Choice of Trap Design
The choice of trap you decide to employ
should be the result of deliberate and careful
planning. Limited by the materials available
for its construction, it must be designed to
carry out its task swiftly and efficiently. This
means that you must know as much about
your quarry as possible: its weight, height at
head and shoulder, and have a rough idea of
how strong it is. Never underestimate the
strength and determination of wild creatures;
rabbits have been known to bite their own leg
off to escape from gin traps.
Your aim is to kill the prey as swiftly and
cleanly as possible or to catch it in such a way
that it is unable to gnaw itself free. Despite the
macabre nature of trapping, if carried out
efficiently, it is a clean and humane method of
killing: the prey goes about its daily routine
until suddenly it is all over. For a quick clean
kill it is essential that your trap is built strong
enough for its purpose; spring snares should
ideally be powerful enough to both break the
prey's neck or back and carry it far enough
aloft to be out of the reach of scavenging
119

available to you. The traps which follow are
all extremely effective and cover a wide range
of trapping principles. However I have
deliberately decided not to include any
spearing or impaling traps as they are
unnecessarily barbarous; there is always a
better alternative. Besides if you are trapping
for food the only result of puncturing the prey
will be to attract the unwanted attention of
scavengers, or more dangerous competition.
Snares: The snare is nearly as old as man
himself and has been used all over the world.
It consists of a noose which is tethered so that
it will tighten around the prey's neck or
legâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or in the case of some monkey traps,
even the hand. The simplest snare of all is the
running noose or as it is known in Britain the
wire. This is a noose secured to a post which is
set on a run at a height suitable to allow the
prey's head to pass through. The noose
however is only wide enough for the head and
will not allow the shoulders or body to pass
through as well. The noose comprises a slip
knot which tightens and chokes the unfortunate victim. I have seen the same device used
to take rabbits alive; the noose was prevented
from tightening enough to choke or strangle
by tying a stopper knot a few centimetres in

handle the materials as little as possible and
darken any exposed cuts with soil, (more to
mask the scent of the cut than disguise the
blaze.) Be methodical and precise.
Once you have manufactured the trap
components, carry them to the area. Try if
possible, to lay your traps out in a line which
is easy to check. Do not dot them around in
the bush where you may lose them or cause a
disturbance when checking them. Set the
traps as quickly and quietly as you can
without drawing attention to yourself. Wild
animals are not stupid. Once set, the trap line
should be checked twice daily if possible. Try
if possible to check the traps from a distance
without approaching them. To this end some
trappers affix a sprig of leaves to twitch-ups to
act as a signal to show that the trap has been
set off.
Trap Designs
Traps vary very little. In principle their
greatest differences lie in the design of the
trigger which is tailored for a specific prey
and a specific set of circumstances. If you are
familiar with a fairly wide range of trap
designs you will find it much easier to
conceive your own from the natural materials

The pressure bar spring snare is attached to a spring branch or bent sapling so that when triggered, the snare whips
upwards tightening and in some cases lifting the prey out of the reach of other predators that might rob you of your meal.
It is ideally suited to catching animals which like to leap through gaps or are inquisitive.

120

All pressure bar snares also rely for effect upon a spring arm which pulls in the direction indicated by the arrow. Top left is
the neckhold with baited trigger stick. This trap works by the restraint of a toggle stick with a baited trigger stick. It is
intended for mammals that reach down to feed or for birds that reach down or which might hop into the stockade.

In really cold weather spring arms and triggers have a tendency to freeze up. To overcome this use a counterbalance
instead of a spring arm.

121

The figure four deadfall is a classic survival deadfall yet more incorrectly described and drawn than any other survival
trap. The best way to understand it is to make it.

The paiute deadfall is a variation to the figure four deadfall which incorporates a toggle stick and baited prop. This is a
much more sensitive arrangement than the figure four; so much so that it can be set off by strong winds.

122

The Nootkaoverhung deadfall is designed for larger mammals; as with all deadfalls it is essential that the deadweight is
heavy enough to kill swiftly.

The kicking bar deadfall. Similar in principle to a toggle-based trigger, this trap utilizes the mechanical advantage of a long
lever (kicking bar) which is held in position by a pressure bar.

123

front of the slip knot. Not only is the wire the
simplest snare, it is also probably the most
effective of all trapsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;particularly in the
hands of novices. I believe this is because no
other trap can be set as easily and with as
little disturbance. Personally though I would
not use this trap; it is slow to kill and does not
remove the prey from the reach of other
predators. Try if possible to use a twitch-up
stick or tossing bar which in most cases will
facilitate a speedy dispatch.
Some snares are designed to take the prey
by the leg. These do not necessarily kill but
simply detain the prey. These are less humane
than traps which kill outright, but are
sometimes easier to set successfully. Of these
the Apache foot drag is the least distressing.
At first appearance it looks like a nasty
barbed wait-a-while leg-hold, but this belies
its true method of operation. A shallow hole is
dug and the hubless wheel placed over
thisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not to trap the prey's foot, but to snag
it. A noose is placed on top of the wheel so
that when the prey steps through the wheel it
also steps into the noose. The wheel then
snags, causing the prey to try and shake it
loose allowing the noose to tighten. The wheel
is usually successfully shaken off. In fact any
jumble of sticks that will serve the same
purpose can be used for this job. The noose is
attached at its other end to a weight which
detains and occupies the prey's attention, so
that it does not take any drastic action to free
itself. The hunter must always take great care
when dispatching the prey as a wayward kick
or bite could in the case of larger prey cause
an injury with fatal consequences.

arctic. If in doubt as to the strength and size
of your prey it is better to overweight the
deadfall and crush rather than maim.
Deadfalls are very easily improvised in
most situations. In the North of England some
of the stone wall builders would incorporate
small tunnels through their walls which were
designed to be used as deadfall traps for
rabbits, rats and other small mammals.
Pitfalls: Pitfalls were also incorporated
into stone wallsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;usually in the form of a
tunnel with a tilting floor which acted as a
flap-closing lid to the pit. Pitfalls are easy to
make and can be very effective for catching
small prey such as rodents and snakes, which
will keep you alive short term. However I
would advise you to avoid handling the
rodents as they may be carriers of Leptospirosis or Bubonic plague (still prevalent in many
areas of the world including the USA).
Dead ends: These are very archaic traps
best suited to use by groups rather than the
individual. They consist of a dead end into
which the prey can be lured or driven and
then culled.
Stickups: If you have ever spent much
time in a coniferous forest you will have come
across the pine resin which finds its'way onto
your axle helve causing blisters. In warm
weather this natural glue can be put to good
trapping use for catching birds. Pre-bait a
patch of ground with short sticks sticking
upright out of the ground. Once the local
birds have come to trust the area, coat the
sticks in resin. This will stick to the birds
feathers and prevent them from flying away.

Deadfalls: Many survival experts claim
that the deadfall is the ideal type of trap to
teach a novice trapper because it is swift and
simple in operation. I do not agree with this.
It is my experience that students underestimate the size and strength of trap required to
kill the prey swiftly. A snare in the hands of a
beginner will either work or fail but a
badly-set deadfall will most probably maim.
The advantage of deadfalls is that they
require the minimum of cordage and are well
suited to use in barren arid areas of scrub
where twitch-ups or tossing bars are hard to
improvise. They are also very well suited to
use in arctic regions for taking large fatcarrying prey even to the size of bears. Before
the introduction of wire and commercial
traps, deadfalls were used extensively in the

On Trapping
It should be obvious by now that trapping is
.not a pleasant business. I find that explaining
the basics of trapping to students is a very
useful exercise. It dispels any romantic
notions of an idealistic Crusoe-like adventure,
bringing home the reality of survival techniques and the responsibility that comes with
them. It also enhances their attention to
detail when studying wildlife and improves
their ability to improvise and adapt other
survival principles.
The best way to practise trapping is to set
up a camera with flash gun so that a primitive
trigger is used to release the shutter. In this
way you will have to carry out the 'trapping'
of the photograph with exactly the same care,
forethought and preparation as for any other
124

Twitch up snares. Ideal for small mammals, these snares are quickly and easily constructed.
The ojibwa bird snare is a simple and effective snare which can be used with and without bait. The snare is tensioned
either with the springy top of the snare post or by a separate heavy weight.

125

fish out a wriggling salmon. But this is not
quite true to life; I have yet to meet the man
who had a hand broad enough to tickle a fish
in this way. Tickling is an activity which
requires you to wade into the water after the
fish. It cannot be carried out in all streams;
you need a wide shallow stretch of stream,
perhaps with some eddy pools which can be
dammed off.
Despite tradition, most fish that occur in
these types of river can be tickled, although it
is only really worth the effort with the larger
game species such as the trout. Keep your
eyes peeled for the deft flick of the tail which
keeps the trout in the rippling oxygen-rich
water breaking over stones or some similar
obstruction. Once you have found the fish you
are after you have two choices: you can either
try to tickle him where he sits, or chase him
into an eddypool which you have prepared as
a holding pen. The first of the options is the
traditional technique and requires considerable skill and stealth, while the second is
better suited to emergency situations.
To tickle the fish you must slowly approach
the fish with your hands already in the water,
moving very smoothly and with great calm.
You may find that your initial approach
makes the fish move forward slightly. Don't
let this deter you. Start again, moving slowly
towards the fish, stopping occasionally to let
him settle down. You should find that after a
while you pick up the technique and get right
up close to the fish. A tip here is to try and
avoid your shadow moving over the fish.
Now, very gently, with your hands palms up
your little fingers touching and your thumbs
pointing upwards, slide your fingers
underneath the fish. Now you are poised to
strike. With a bending lifting action, grasp the
fish to your stomach and then cast him onto
the bank, making sure he lands well clear of
the water (all too often they wriggle back into
the river.) That's all there is to it! It isn't quite
as easy as it sounds but neither is it difficult.
If the fish swims under a bank or you are
trying to catch him in an eddypool where the
water has become silted up you will have to
rely upon your sense of touch. The first time
you feel a fish in your grasp in these
circumstances is quite strange and most
people flinch with surprise causing the fish to
escape. Sometimes it feels as though the fish
likes being touched and leans against your
hand. When you feel this, it is time to strike.

trap. Make certain that the trigger does not
cause too much camera shake, and be aware
that the flashgun will gradually drain of
power, so set it up at a time which gives you
the greatest chance of success.
Some time ago I was visiting a friend who
was having trouble with a mouse in his larder,
and the suggestion was made that I try to trap
it. So for interest we set up four traps, each
baited with peanut butter, an irresistible bait.
Three of the traps were fashioned from
containers propped up with miniature
deadfall triggers so that they would drop and
enclose the target. The fourth was the
simplest of all and was quickly improvised
from materials available. A food funnel was
set over a long tupperware container and a
trail of peanut butter smeared tantalisingly
down into the funnel tube (food funnels have
a bore of about five centimetres). The next
morning the little culprit was found languishing in its tupperware jail. As is so often
the case, the improvised trap had worked
best. After a last minute plea for clemency
from my friend's two sons we conferred, and
with all due solemnity, the mouse was taken a
more than sufficient distance away and
released into a suitable habitat. Note: Primitive trapping is illegal is most cases, excepting
genuine emergencies.

Fishing Techniques
Fishing as a hunting sport is as popular today
as it has ever been, but fishing to feed yourself
in the wilderness is somewhat different. You
must learn to improvise your own fishing
tackle and to catch in quantity. Very often the
fish you catch will be boney even muddy
tasting, but it is food! To make the best use of
this bountiful resource you will need to learn
the ingenious methods of fishing used by
native peoples. The following techniques are
not sporting methods, they are poaching
techniques outlawed on controlled rivers,
because of their effectiveness.

Tickling
The simplest of all primitive fishing techniques is that which requires only a sharp eye
and a steady hand. Tickling is usually
portrayed on TV adventures by a country lad
reaching over the river bank with one hand to
126

Spears and Harpoons
In former days in North America, even the
noble sturgeon was hunted with harpoons,
sometimes in water more than 10 metres
deep. But for survival purposes you can
consider using spears and harpoons for those
times when you can see the fish in shallower
water. Using these weapons requires considerable practise; your strike must both be
accurate and adjusted for the refraction of the
water. To do this you must aim low by an
amount that will correspond to the depth of
water. The best way to learn this is to carry
out some experiments.
Using spears and harpoons will soon teach
you that river and stream bottoms are not the
most welcoming of environments for them.
Breakages are commonplace while you are
learning. Make your spear light and strong
and fit it with a hardwood or bone point. The
problem here is that the point must be small
enough to spear the fish without totally
destroying it. This makes your fishing gear
delicate. For smaller fish a spear like one of
those shown will do the job perfectly well, but
for larger fish they are not really strong
enough. The very action of his thrashing
around when speared, is easily strong enough
to snap your spear head. To save your spear
fit it with a detatchable head, which is tied to
the spear shaft. This will allow him to move
around as much as he likes without escaping
(usually) and without damaging your spear
point.
Harpoons also have detachable heads but
are thrown instead of thrust. They can also be
fitted with more than one point to maximise
your chances of success. To help in the
throwing you can fit them with a finger grip,
or notch the end for use with a woomera.
Gaffs are sort of reverse spears that have a
backward pointing barb and are jerked
upwards from underneath the fish. These can
be a better bet when you are hunting a river
with rocky pools.
But of all these spears, harpoons and gaffs,
my favourite fishing spear is the leister spear
which combines the best qualities of all three
of the other designs. A leister spear can be
fitted with a detachable head. Its success
comes from the fact that it has one central
barb with two gaff barbs either side which
serve to guide the fish onto the central barb
and prevent it slipping free. Ideally the gaff
barbs should be slightly springy. I was once

demonstrating the way this spear functions
using my hand to represent the fish when by
accident I harpooned myself. I can assure you
that it's not a pleasant experience; the grip of
this spear is remarkable. Even so, many times
when this same spear head has been used
against trout they seem to almost wriggle free.
Never underestimate the strength of a fish.
Any of these spears can be used from the
land, from a canoe or from a wading point in
the river. The length you make the spear will
be determined by its intended use. In general,,
make the spear longer rather than shorter.
For cordage (see Chapter Eleven) use plant
fibres wherever possible as they resist soaking
better than their hide equivalents. Pine, resin
can be used to waterproof and stick joints. At
night, fish can be speared by attracting them
to light. Natives hunted this way both from
land and by canoe; the important thing is not
to allow your shadow to fall on the water
surface. When hunting by canoe a fire or
lantern would be set on a fireproof platform
laid across the gunwales and a screen erected
to prevent the hunter's shadow being cast
forward. From land the task was a little
easier; a long torch would be fashioned from
birch bark and then fastened to a long stick
which could be held out over the water. Any
shadow cast by this method would fall away
from the water. A good modern method of
such hunting is to use a head torch.
Another common way of luring fish to the
spear or harpoon is to carve a fish-shaped lure
from a piece of wood such as cedar or willow.
This lure can then be pulled towards the
hunter. Carved or bent to a slight curve, the
fish would be attracted to the lure and follow
it into striking range. There is endless scope
for experimentation with different designs of
lure.
Traps and Nets
Fish traps are an excellent method of catching
fish in quantity with a minimum expenditure
of effort. The basic principle is to create a
coral or basket that the fish can swim into but
not back out of. These are most effectively
used on tidal rivers where all that needs be
constructed is a crescent-shaped wall of rocks
or sticks about eighty centimetres high
against which the fish become trapped as the
tide recedes.
In fast-flowing streams and rivers, simple
basket traps can be set with funnelling walls of
127

suitable line. These can be made from a
variety of materials ranging from algae to
skin. Using plant fibres such as stinging
nettles, surprisingly strong lines can be made
(see Chapter Eleven) but for speed you will
probably be better off using a rawhide line.
Take a piece of rawhide which has been dried
from the rack and therefore shrunk without
weakening the fibres of its structure. Soak it
and cut a line in the spiral fashion used for
bowstring manufacture. The line you cut
should be about just a little wider than the
skin's average thickness. It is better here to use
skin from the animal's neck; summer doe skin
seems to be best. Cut the line until you have
enough for your purpose and then stretch it
and give it a rolling between your palms and
a slight twisting to make it round. I prefer to
then hang it over a smoky fire to dry though
that is not necessary. Like all rawhide this line
will be wiry when dry, but after a short
soaking and flexing in water will be ready for
use.

interwoven saplings to guide the fish in which
they then become trapped by the force of
water working against them. Even simpler are
walls which guide fish into eddy pools which
have been blocked off to prevent their escape,
allowing you ample opportunity to spear or
dip net the fish.
Nets require a considerable investment of
both time and labour. The major problem is
producing sufficient cordage. While time is
something you have plenty of in most survival
situations, it could be more efficiently spent
making basket traps. Of the types of net you
might make, the least ambitious and best
suited designs for solo application are dip nets
and the poacher's gill net. Dip nets are
exactly as they sound. If possible fit them with
a purse opening which can be opened and
closed by a separate cord. The gill net is light
and small; it works very simply by catching in
the gills of the fish which swim into it. Often
used at night, the net is usually secured to
land at one end and then swung out into the
river with evenly spaced floats and sinker
weights to hold it vertical.

Poisons
Poisons have been made by natives in slow
shallow streams to stun fish which can then be
gathered downstream. But this is only really
effective in warm water. Under suitable
conditions this is possible in some temperate
areas using a variety of poisons made by
crushing and leaching out the poisons from
plant stems or barks. However the use of this
technique under survival conditions in temperate regions is unnecessary. Again it would
be better use of your labour to devise another
method of catching fish. The following are the
species which have been used for this purpose:
walnut bark, clematis, horse chestnuts,
buckeye. The poison only works for a short
while, stupifying rather than killing the fish,
and soon becomes too diluted for use as it
passes downstream. Any fish that you miss
will recover. In general these fishing techniques can be swiftly learned and when coupled
with patience you are on your way to easy
fishing. Of the many fish I have caught for
food not one has ever been caught with a
conventional rod and line. I mention that
because some students have doubted the
validity of some of these old techniques
compared to modern techniques. As I mentioned earlier, most of these methods have
been outlawed because of their effectiveness.

Hooks
Fish hooks have been a reliable way of
catching fish for many centuries, although
improvising them from natural materials is
not an easy task since it is difficult to find
materials small enough yet strong enough to
do the job. The simplest and one of the most
effective improvised fish hooks is the gorge
hook which is simply a straight piece of hard
wood or bone. This is sharpened at both ends
and tied to the line at its middle. Baited in
such a way that the gorge is held parallel to
the line, the fish swallows the bait which then
toggles inside his gut causing the hook to
lodge fast.
If you have time, more elaborate hooks can
be fashioned from briar thorns and a feather
stem as depicted. Or bone can be abraded to
make fish hooks of a more conventional
design. The most beautiful fish hooks are
those made by the fishermen of the north west
coast of America whose steam bent hooks
work remarkably well, seemingly reducing
the fight the fish puts up. These are still in use
today although now made of metal rather
than wood and bone.
Even if you have made the best fish hook in
the world it is totally useless without a
128

Cooking, Preserving and
Storing Food
'In my investigations I was unable to ascertain positively
why they were called Snakes, but one of their old men
claimed that it was because they formerly ate serpents . . .
Many of the bands living in the interior formerly had only
the rudest kind of lodgesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at times only a pile of sage brush
to shelter them from the windâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and they subsisted on reptiles
and insects, in fact, whatever they could find alive, and such
roots, seeds, and berries as grew on the alkaline deserts and
in the mountains. With them rabbits were considered large
game. Some of the bands living near the streams and lakes
abounding in fish subsisted mostly on them, and they
exhibited some skill in the manufacture of grass nets, and still
others were energetic enough to secure ponies and hunt large
game.'
(W.P. Clarke (Captain 2nd Cavalry) The Indian Sign
Language 1884.)

'Come and get it!'
That was the cry of the camp cook, a cry
that could make or break the crew's morale
depending on the culinary delights on offer.
Yet this cry, born of a pioneering frontier, is
rare now. Instead all that can be heard is the
crinkling of packets of freeze dried food being
torn open. While there are those who apply
the old frontier flare for cooking to these
strange new foodstuffs, on the whole the skills
of backwoods cooking are in a sad state of
decline. Yet with an increasing number of
young men and women striking the trail on
expeditions for science or pure adventure the
ability to cook a camp meal can win you
many friends.
Even under survival conditions great
culinary delights can be prepared from the
most unlikely materials. The following skills
are the essential skills of backwoods cooking.

While covering cooking without utensils I
have also included cooking with a set of billies
that you will most likely have on an expedition or wilderness hike; cooking is a
fundamental outdoors skill. For ecological
reasons I have not at any stage included
cooking with aluminium foil, for while useful
in the home kitchen, it has little or no place on
the trail since its usefulness is short lived and it
is difficult to dispose of because it does not rot
away.
Attitude
Almost invariably in backwoods situations,
you will be faced with unfamiliar foodstuffs to
cook. This is especially true of survival
situations. Adopting the correct mental attitude to eating such foods is essential. I know
of several people who have eaten meals of the
most disgusting nature when in remote parts,
129

and many of my friends have sampled snails,
slugs, lizards and large grubs, although they
have not always been aware of the fact. On
one particular photo demonstration day for a
magazine, we found a yearling fox who had
just been run down; a sad end for such a
beautiful creature. But not to be wasted this
windfall was put to good use -while the skin
and sinew was saved for later use, the meat
was prepared for cooking and the carcass
returned to the soil in the traditional manner.
Lunch was a quickly broiled slice of fox meat
and grilled parasol fungus.The photographer
who had not seen what was being cooked
began to salivate as he smelled the meat
cooking. I handed him a choice piece of the
backwoods steak and he took a bite remarking how good it tasted, especially with
the slight flavour of woodsmoke, and asked
what it was. When we told him it was fox he
turned a very strange green colour and found
he couldn't eat any more. I relate this just to
reinforce the point: in emergency situations
we must lose our predjudices and open our
minds (and eyes). What in our everyday
situations we might consider inedible, in
many other parts of the world may be
considered a delicacy. One old World War 2
soldier I knew was a prisoner on the infamous
Burma railway and claimed to have survived
by supplementing his meagre prison ration by
cleaning and eating worms and other small
creatures. He said that he watched his fellow
prisoners who could not bring themselves to
eat these unpleasant-looking foods waste
away and die from disease made more
dangerous through malnutrition.

But that does not mean that wild food
meals need to be anything less than a feast.
One of my favourite outdoors challenges is to
try to prepare four course meals from only
natural products. With practise and given
time to collect the foods, you will be surprised
just how good a meal you can produce.
Although most hiking meals need to be quick
and easy to prepare, and in survival situations
you are better off eating a little often, you will
be surprised just how much enjoyment and
satisfaction can be achieved from preparing a
successful feast. Just thinking about some of
the backwoods meals I have enjoyed is
making me hungry, but before we consider
making some, there is one absolutely essential
aspect to deal with.
Hygiene
'A clean camp is a healthy camp' is an old
scout phrase which is trueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but what
comprises a clean camp? Watch a documentary about native Australians cooking
goanna in the traditional way, simply slung
onto a fire and turned occasionally by its tail,
and you will probably think that this is
un-hygienic. But in many ways this is a more
hygienic way to cook than some of the
methods employed by many western
campers. While the meal may look dirty and
ash covered, it has been well cooked in the
sterilising heat of the fire and has suffered the
minimum of handling in cooking and preparation.This highlights the first rule of outdoors cooking reduce the food handling to
the absolute minimum and cook the food well
to kill bacteria. Even if you can see your face
in a brightly polished billy it is still going to be
covered in bacteria which is too small to see
with the naked eye. If you have washed your
billy or are just about to use it to store some
food, heat it over your fire to sterilise it.
Before you handle food make sure you have
washed your hands; this is very important. In
some desert areas where water is short, sand
can be used for this task. Foodâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially
wild plantsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;should be washed before
cooking or consumption; make certain that
you do this washing with purified or sterilised
water. Wherever possible use only fresh food
or meat you have killed yourself. Without the
advantage of a modern kitchen with easywipe work surfaces and cupboards, you will
need to be highly organised in your cooking.
Before you even start to wash the ingredients

The first place to start to enjoy foods which
are unusual or unfamiliar is to stop trying to
draw comparisons with those foods you are
more used to. If a student asks me what
squirrel tastes like I will always reply it tastes
like squirrel. If you are continuously drawing
comparisons with a Western diet you are at
the same time grading the food by flavour and
texture, but as your preferences are born from
years of eating a small selection of foods it is
unusual for wild foods to always compare
favourably. You can soon become disheartened by such comparisons and can lower
your own morale. At home, when I can afford
to be, I am a very fussy eater, but when on the
trail my appetite helps me to overcome
prejudice, and I will eat anything that will
keep me alive.
130

assuming you have the fixings for bread, an
oven should be constructed next to the main
cooking fire. Keep all of your needs in close
proximity.
The cooking outfit: Without the advantage of modern cooking utensils, containers
will have to be made—such as waterproof
baskets and bowls for rock boiling (see
Chapter Eleven)—and the techniques which
do not require containers, made full use of. If
you are equipped with a set similar to that
described in Chapter Two you are handsomely equipped. For a fixed camp I would
use three pots: small, medium, and large, and
a mug. If transportation is no problem a box
oven and a large billy are also useful. Utensils
need not be elaborate: a spoon and fork are
convenient for a one-person outfit although a
spoon and improvised chopsticks would also
serve the same purpose. On the whole,
utensils can be improvised or carved to order
although for large groups or expedition
cooking, a ladle is exceptionally useful. The
last piece of equipment which is extremely
useful is a cloth for wiping your hands on; this
should be washed frequently. If you are using
metal billies it is perfectly alright to allow
them to blacken on the outside and some
would claim it even improves their performance. Just make certain that the insides
and rim are clean before use. Wooden
cooking containers and utensils are much
harder to sterilise; the best policy here is to
heat them to nearly scorching point over the
fire, making sure it is the surface which will be
coming into contact with the food that you
are heating.

of your meal think the cooking process
through so that you can make full use of your
limited cooking utensils. Mats can be woven
to act as makeshift tables to prevent loss of
utensils and the contamination of food from
the ground. If you are cooking for a group or
in a camp, try to define the cooking and food
preparation area. I always try to have a
separate fire to the group's campfire to cook
on. The last thing you need is idle hands and
feet milling around the kitchen area—
outdoors cooking isn't that different to indoor
cooking!
If I am travelling I do most of my cooking
on a simple fire—maybe an Indian fire, a star
fire, or a criss-cross fire. But in a fixed camp
the order of the day is a more elaborate set-up
for your cooking gadgets and utensils. A spit
or crane arrangement for suspending a billy
over the fire at a variety of heights is an
excellent innovation as is a simple table,
which need only be a few inches above the
ground. Make sure you have plenty of water
to hand and fuel for the fire. For cooking,
your fuel needs are better met from small
sticks rather than logs and thicker fuel. A first
class arrangement is to arrange your wood by
thickness. Some campers prefer to arrange a
rack for their different fuels but this is an
unnecessary labour since no sooner have you
racked the fuel than you are unracking it to
burn. A simple but pleasing way to keep your
kitchen clean and tidy is to fashion a small
besom from springy twigs and to sweep the
kitchen area clear of-leaf mould and debris. It
is very important to avoid dropping waste
food on the ground; this will encourage the
unwelcome attentions of rodents and other
wild creatures. An old jungle traveller once
explained to me that when rats enter a camp
for food, snakes are certain to follow. Since
then I have twice seen this happen both times
in regions with venomous snakes. If you do
have left-overs, either arrange for an old tree
stump some way away from camp to be a
left-overs post, or if you are in an area where
there are dangerous predators, burn or bury
deep this surplus. Keep this area clear and
tidy, also tidying the fire each day.
Preparing your fire is an important step in
the day's cooking. In a well organised camp
the tasks of fuel gathering and water bearing
are allocated to the other camp members by a
rota system, so that the cook is free to prepare
the food. For a camp of two days or more,

If these precautions seem at all fussy just
ask anyone who has had food poisoning what
it was like, and you will see their importance.
While you may feel less persuaded to take all
these precautions when cooking for yourself,
they are absolutely essential if you are cooking
for anyone else.
Latrines: This may seem an unlikely
place to talk of toilet arrangements but it is in
fact absolutely logical. When you are travelling alone a latrine may simply be a shallow
depression dug in the ground or a rolled back
stone or log, but in an organised camp this is
in no way practical, here a proper latrine pit
should be dug, preferably four feet deep if
possible. The way in which either is used is
important to reduce the risk of contamination
by flies travelling from the latrine to the food
131

some tinned food. Many lightweight
backpackers may be horrified at this, but
planning meals around a rice base with a
tinned topping such as sardines or chicken
pieces is a menu worth its weight.
No matter whether your food is carried in
or procured from the land, you should try to
devise interesting meals which contain a
variety of food stuffs and flavours. In survival
situations, the nutritional value of meals is not
easy to balance, because of your limited
resources. Even the native inhabitants' diet
may be beyond you as they would have had
the advantage of being able to store the
seasonal gluts to provide a year-round balanced diet. Calories and protein are the
hardest of your needs to supply. The richest
source of calories available to you are those
contained in fat; unfortunately those small
mammals that are easy to catch generally
provide a very lean meat. Fattier meats mean
catching larger game or water fowl or
four-footed creatures who carry a layer of fat
for insulation. Carbohydrate is another
source of calories and this can be found in
edible roots though in less quantity than fat.
If you eat only lean meat, you will find you
soon become quite ill, and for this reason it is
very important to eat the fat on wild meat,
avoiding cooking techniques such as spit
roasting which destroy most of the fat.
If you are faced with the prospect of eating
unfamiliar foods which are unappealing, you
have two options: you can either hold your
nose, close your eyes and swallow hard, or you
can disguise the foods in the way you prepare
them, combining them with other foods you
are less put off by. Should you ever find
yourself in the position of having to feed a
number of people with unfamiliar foods, there
are again two options: either you dish up a
cleverly disguised meal and say nothing, or
better still involve them in the food preparation and cooking.
A classic example of this happened a few
years ago when I was instructing a camp of
scouts. We had decided the camp should eat a
survival meal which they would prepare and
cook themselves in their patrols. We provided
them with a variety of meats from fabbit to
venison, and to help things along some rice for
the meal base. All the other ingredients had to
be procured from the campsite itself, having
already scoured the site carefully, I had found
a wide variety of edible plants and several

preparation area. On expeditions this is an
often overlooked aspect of field hygiene,
which if neglected, can result in the whole
camp becoming ill through picking up the
infection of one member.
Firstly any latrine should be constructed
well away from the camp itself, preferably in
dense cover. After use, any stools should be
covered with soil and toilet paper and
preferably burned; then hands must be
washed. In a large camp a bowl and washing
facilities can be positioned by the latrine.
Here again the task of keeping the latrine tidy
and well maintained should be part of the
camp rota, this is the best way of gaining the
camp's co-operation in using the system
properly. Never pour disinfectant into such a
latrine to reduce smellsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if everyone is covering up after use, the smell should be
minimal; disinfectant simply destroys the
putrefying bacteria, slows down the decay
and prolongs the problem. The best way to
reduce odours is to fill in the latrine and dig a
new one. When this is done make certain you
mark the location of the old latrine pit clearly.
Meal Planning
In the bush, living from the land is not easy as
there is no guarantee that you will find food.
You soon learn to make full advantage of
many food resources and to reconcile yourself
to those times when your gathering efforts
have not been successful. In general, when on
the move, food is prepared quickly and simply
as it is found, but if you are working from a
fixed camp or shelter you have the advantage
of being able to discover the full food
potential of the area you are inhabiting, and
thereby plan meals, especially if you are able
to dry or smoke meat and fish. If on the other
hand you are hiking with food, your meal
planning can be carried out before your
departure, and should be done meal by meal.
The secret to successful backwoods cookery
is simplicity and variety. If I am backpacking
with rations they usually comprise as much
fresh food as weight allows. The meals are also
designed to match the cooking method I
intend to use and will vary accordingly;
hiking rations, for example, where I plan to
use a stove, are designed to require the
simplest cooking method and to produce very
little clearing up, thereby allowing more time
on the trail and for relaxing, with less time
spent over chores. Very often I will include
132

deadly poisonous plants present. Selecting
only those edible plants occurring in large
quantity I gathered an example of each and
briefed the teams on what they were to gather
and how to proceed. Ingredients were only to
be collected from the area I had reconnoitred
and the poisonous plants (both woody ones
and deadly nightshade were present), were
shown and explained to each scout individually.
Before any cooking or food preparation was
allowed the ingredients they collected were
very carefully vetted, just to be on the safe
side. A stew was the order of the day and each
patrol helped prepare and cook their own,
before dishing it up onto a base of rice with
stinging nettle tea and acorn coffee to follow.
Even I was surprised when every scout ate the
meal heartily with expressions of approval
only twelve year olds can make, but I am
certain that if the meal had simply been
placed in front of them and they had been
told what was in it, they would have
complained. Participation is a very important
aspect of outdoors enjoyment.
The successful expedition or galley cook
soon learns about that other key to successful
cooking—flavourings and sweetenings. A
small container of sugar or honey goes a long
way to smoothing the passage of unusual
foods as does a bottle of hot or savoury sauce.
For example if I am baking in a camp oven, a
nutmeg will enhance the flavour of pies
immeasurably. Even when hiking, tomato
puree included with pasta rice or mashed
potato is a tasty surprise. There are no
brownie points for acting the hard man and
eating unnecessarily bland food—we can all
do that—but transforming dull uninteresting
food into a treat to look forward to, is a great
and respected skill.

ways there are of carrying out these tasks. The
following are my favourite food preparation
techniques: most of them are native in origin
and all are perfectly suited to the special
conditions of backcountry cooking—although
they work equally well in the modern kitchen!
Meat: Whether faced with a deer or rabbit
the principles of skinning are the same. I will
describe below the process for a deer as this is
the larger animal. There are many ways to
skin an animal—as hunters are quick to
demonstrate with a deft hand and flashing
knife—but points are not won for the speed at
which the skin is removed, but how well it is
removed. A careless cut and it is spoiled.
Small mammals can be skinned in the hand
or laid on the ground, but it takes a lot of skill
to skin a deer in this way without ending up
with dirt-covered meat. More usually, large
game is suspended off of the ground for both
skinning and gutting. If you do not have
cordage for the suspension, the legs are cut so
that a stick or branch can be passed between
the bone and tendon for wedging in a forked
branch or some similar process of improvised
suspension. Whether you suspend the animal
head up or head down is a matter of
choice—head up the gutting is easier, head
down the skin is easier to remove from the
neck area. If you are just beginning it is
probably better to opt for head down.
With the game suspended, you have the
choice of gutting before skinning or skinning
before gutting. I prefer to gut first as the skin
then acts as a protective layer against
contamination from any of the stomach
contents. Gutting is carried out by cutting
open the skin along the belly but without
opening the inner skin which encloses the
stomach. To do this pinch up a small fold of
skin in the belly, above where you can feel the
internal organs have slumped, and using your
knife, cut carefully horizontally. Your aim
here is only to create a small hole just large
enough for your finger. With this done insert
just the tip of your knife and cut vertically
upwards towards the groin. This may take
several small cuts and you should be able to
see the inner stomach wall which you must
avoid cutting. The art of good skinning is to
use a cutting tool as little as possible. With
this cut made, extend it down to the breast
bone. This is the opening cut complete.
You can now either gut the carcass or
continue skinning. With small game it is quite

Food Preparation
One of the strangest things I came across
when I first began to teach backwoods skills
was how poorly tenderfeet prepare wild foods.
Given a fish or small mammal they often have
no idea of where to start, let alone know how
to dress game for cooking. This unfamiliarity
is almost certainly due to the pre-packaged
nature of modern food.
Food should be prepared in keeping with
its condition and how you intend to cook it; it
never ceases to amaze me how many different
133

often the case that the body is gutted when
caught for skinning later; if this is the case it is
a good idea to work the skin away from the
flesh for about an inch either side of the
opening cut, as later with the guts removed it
will be difficult to carry out this separation.
Also with small game and game suspended
head up, it is a good idea to empty the
bladder before the opening cut is made. This
is accomplished simply by squeezing on the
stomach and standing well clear of the
obvious stream of urine. Suspended head
down this is not usually necessary, but if in
doubt carry this out as described before
suspension.
Gutting is never as unpleasant as it mayseem. The stomach wall is opened in much
the same way as for the skin and all of the
contents removed; be careful not to cut or
damage them. Many of these parts are edible
or useful. Keep your eye open for the gall
bladder which is attached to the liver in
which bile is stored. This must be removed
intact to avoid contaminating the meat.
Warriors traditionally smash this once it is
removed or save it to produce arrow poison.
With the guts out you can clear them away
and continue with skinning. Treat the skin as
a jacket and cut it away from the body by
slitting it up each of the limbs. Then using
mainly persuasive force applied with your
hands or fist, pull the skin away from the
flesh; occasionally you may need to resort to
your knife to ease the process. A good skinner
can remove the skin from all parts of the
animal including the head, but to start with
you can simply finish at the top of the neck.
Take the skin away for defleshing (see
Chapter Thirteen).
Before you butcher the carcass remove any
sinew you may need (see Chapter Thirteen).
Butchering is essentially the process of sectioning the meat into a size and form you can
easily handle This can be done to suit your
plans in any way you see fit. An important
consideration here is the cutting tools you
have available; if you have a large knife or a
tomahawk you can easily quarter the carcass
without causing any dangerous splinters in
the meat. But if you have only a small flint
you may have to butcher the meat Indian
style, laboriously cutting it away from the
bone.
Poultry can also be skinned although in
doing so you remove much of the fat. To keep

insects away while you're doing this, skin in
the smoke from a smudge fire. The alternative
is plucking, which is made easier by scalding
the flesh before plucking. As you remove the
feathers you can pour a couple of cups of
boiling water on the local area you are
working. The feathers can be saved for arrow
fletchings and insulation.
Internal organs: The liver, kidneys,
heart, and brain are the most valuable edible
internal parts of the carcass. The brain
especially is rich in fat although it is also
useful for tanning the skin. The remainder of
the internal parts can be used as bait in your
traps to catch other game.
Fish: Fish are one of the easiest of wild
foods to prepare, the only problem being that
they are slippery to hold, although with
experience you will be able to hold them
securely. Fish should be gutted as soon as
possible as they begin to putrefy very quickly.
To do this insert your knife in the belly of the
fish just below the gills and cut down to the
tail. Insert a finger in the belly and repeat the
action with your finger scooping out the
entrails. Cut off*any dangly bits inside the fish
and burst the swim bladder, which may be
inflated inside. Particularly scaly fish can be
descaled by scraping the scales off with a knife
or flint flake; scrape from the tail to the head.
Fish which do not have scales can be skinned;
work from behind the gills to the tail.
If you intend to eat the fish straight after
catching it, split it straight down the middle,
lay some clean hardwood ash inside it and
then drape it over a piece of hard fire wood for
cooking in the coals of the fire. The flesh
should not take long to cook through so keep
a careful eye on it. If the skin is still
attached—as for a trout or salmon—it is
cooked when the skin slips easily away from
the flesh.
My favourite way to cook fish uses a native
American technique. For this the fish is best
the day after it was caught, as the nerve
endings have had time to die, making the
filleting easier—although if you wish, a fresh
fish can be suitably prepared by carving
steaks off of its flanks. To fillet the fish, first cut
off all of the fins and the tail. For this you will
find a knife with a coarse edge is best, and use
it with a sawing action. The next step is to cut
down to the spine of the fish just behind the
gills, but do not sever the spine. Extend this
cut down and through the sides of the fish
134

which produce this problem most commonly
occur in regions of cool water, particularly
when combined with a nutrient-rich upwelling current. There is no connection with the
occurrence of this organism and polluted
waters, it is just as likely to occur in clean
water.
Another problem similar to PSP is Diureal
Shellfish Poisoning (DSP). Less dangerous, it
none the less results in severe stomach upset.
It occurs for the same reasons as PSP, so to
avoid it, it is best to remove filter feedersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and mussels in particularâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from your survival
menu.
Those shellfish which are not filter feeders
are a much safer option, although care must
still be exercised in their gathering, particularly in the summer breeding season when
they are out of condition. Wash the shellfish
you have collected before cooking. If possible
leave them in clean sea water for twenty-four
hours, then before cooking check that they are
all alive, discarding any that may have died.
On top of these natural problems comes
modern pollution from oil and other
chemicals. Always keep a wary eye out for
signs of this when gathering.
All these hazards aside, though, the most
commonly encountered danger is that of
becoming cut off by the rising tide. Because
the best places to search for most of the
seashore edibles are below the tide lines you
must remain alert to the changing tide. I
speak from experience when I say that it is all
too easy to become so engrossed in your
foraging that you misjudge the tide's return.
Listed below are the most commonly found
seashore edibles for seaweeds (see Chapter
Six) for both Great Britain and North
America (many species that occur on the
British coastline also occur along the North
American shore). To become proficient at
gathering seashore edibles it is important to
understand the way each species lives; many of the
listed species burrow into the sand, some
leaving tell tale signs on the surface. To be
fully efficient at gathering these species I
strongly advice you to obtain a detailed field
guide. Besides being an important part of
your outdoors training, a few days spent
exploring a coastline is always a rewarding
experience.

behind the gills, then with your hand grasp
the head and spine and carefully lift it away
from the flesh. You should find that the fish's
skeleton lifts virtually cleanly from the flesh.
With the steak so prepared, it can be fitted
into a split stick as shown and broiled by the
fire. This method of butchering is also suitable
for smoking and drying (see below).
Sea shore edibles: All wild foods that
come from a wet habitat are prone to going
off very quickly but none more so than
shellfish and the other delicacies waiting on
the sea shore. While shellfish are on sale in the
city this is no guide to their safety in the wild.
Commercially-sold shell fish are thoroughly
screened and vetted by health inspectors with
the full benefit of modern science. In the wild
you must be extra careful to avoid food
poisoning. The most care must be exercised in
the case of filter-feeding bivalves such as
mussels, as they filter bacteria and toxins from
sea water along with their food which then
become concentrated in their bodies.
There are three particular problems connected with shellfish poisoning. The least
dangerous is enteric bacterial infection from
sewage. These pathogenic bacteria cause
severe stomach upsets, and are particularly
associated with mussels, oysters and cockles.
This infection can for the most part be
avoided by collecting shellfish away from
areas of habitation or sewage outlets and by
the thorough cooking of the shellfish. Under
no circumstances should any shellfish gathered in the wild be eaten raw.
The most dangerous problem facing the
gatherer of shellfish is the so called 'red tide'.
This is caused by some single-celled algae
which when absorbed by filter feeding bivalves (particularly mussels), concentrate toxins
in the liver of the shellfish which can cause the
often fatal Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
(PSP). The effect of these toxins is to paralyse
the autonomic nervous system, leading to
respiratory failure, leading in turn to heart
failure. There is no known antidote to this
toxin, PSP is not destroyed by cooking.
Occurrence of the red tide is more or less
seasonal, peaking around May to July,
although it can be present several months
either side of this period depending on local
conditions. In seasons of extreme outbreaks of
the red tide it can be seen as a red bloom in
the water, but an absence of this colour is no
indicator of the water's safety. The algae
135

the surface such as cockles often leave a
distinctive pattern of little raised bumps over
the bed where they lie. Others, particularly
the clams, are less obvious and can be buried
several inches deep, though empty shell cases
occurring in an area should be a good
indicator of their presence. With practise it is
possible to develop an uncanny knack of
knowing just where to dig, which I have
several
times seen demonstrated by
beachcombers.
Oyster (Ostera edulis)*
Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas)
Portuguese oyster (Crassostrea angulata* )
Cockle (Cardium edule)*
Scallops (Pectens maximus) *
Quahogs ( Venus mercenaris)
Little Neck Clam (Protothaca staminea)
Clam (Mya arenaria)*: This shell fish is
particularly gritty and often requires two
days' cleaning in clean sea water.
Surf clam (Spinsula solidissima)
Bent nose clams (Macoma nasuta)
Razor fish (Ensis siliqua)*: These are
traditionally hunted by sprinkling salt in the hole in
the sand and snatching them when they emerge.

Seashore Foods
In the following lists those species marked
with an asterisk can be found within the
British Isles.
MOLLUSCS
Gastropods
These are the safest of the molluscs as a source
of food. They occur commonly on rocks and
can be relatively easily removed for cooking
by boiling, steaming or even baking.
Limpets (Patella vulgata*): These creatures cling tenaciously to rocks even in the
strongest surf, and can be difficult to remove
for cooking. The technique I most commonly
employ is to sneak up on them and give a
sharp sideways tap with a rock. Once they
know you are after them they clamp down
with a stubborn determination, so if your first
attempt fails move on to another limpet
preferably on an undisturbed rock.
Winkles (Litlorina litlorea)*: A traditional
sea food, winkles are easily removed from the
rocks on which they occur, and should be
dropped into boiling water and cooked for
about ten minutes. They are most easily
removed from their shell by the judicious use
of a pin or wild thorn.
Whelks (Nucella lapillus): Whelks can also
be used for food, in fact all sea snails of
temperate waters are edible. Treat in the
same way as for winkles.
Black Abalone (Haliotis cracherodil):

Cephalopods
The Common octopus ( Octopus vulgaris) *:
The North American Indians call this the
'Devil Fish'. It can be found in rock pools
with deep overhangs and crevices. To capture
this resilient creature it was speared with a
gaff until so weakened that it could be
extracted from its niche.

Bivalves
These are filter feeders and because of this are
apt to concentrate toxins and bacteria in their
tissues. It used to be a common practise in
British coastal communities to remove the
mussel's stomach, siphon and gills which were
believed to be where the poisons were most
concentrated. While this practice may reduce
the risk of becoming ill it does not remove it
altogether.
Better
to
avoid
mussels
completely. This preparation technique
should be used for all other edible bivalves
you may gather. An interesting fact is that the
practice was also common amongst the native
inhabitants of the North-West coast of
America.
Mussels (Mytilus edulis): These are easilygathered from the rocks to which they anchor
themselves. Most of the other bivalves listed
here are to be found below the surface of sand,
mud or gravel. Those which are found near

Arthropods
Most notable as a source of food amongst the
arthropods are the Crustacea which includes
the shrimp, prawns, crabs and lobsters. While
it is possible to collect shrimps under survival
conditions your efforts will be better directed
in collecting other forms of seafood; not least
the following which can be trapped, speared
or more easily collected from rockpools where
they may be trapped.
The fiddler crab (Portunus puber) *
Hermit crabs (Eupagurus bernhardusj*
Edible crabs (Cancer pagurus)*
Jonah crab (Cancer borealis)
The lobster (Homarus vulgaris) *
Craztfish (Palmurus vulgaris)*: Treat as
for lobster.
Like all marine food the meat of these
creatures will go off very quickly if allowed to.
136

Cirripedia
The goose barnacle (Lepas anatifera)*; These
float around on driftwood and flotsom and
were utilised as a source of food by the North
American Indians who would steam them
and then peel away their skin before consumption.

brown creamy part. This can be mixed with
the white meat which should be extracted
from the claws and other half of the body. The
sides of the shell can then be broken away and
the main part washed to serve as a plate to
serve the meat on.

Echinoderms
The unpleasant prickly surprise of many
unwary bathers is the sea urchin, a valuable
and important seashore food that provides
fat, the commodity most lacking in a wild
diet. The urchins can be collected with a
three-pronged spear or carefully lifted by
hand. If you are unlucky enough to be
speared by their spines an acidic juice such as
lemon or vinegar will help draw them out. To
prepare the urchin for eating, smash it open
and remove the roe which is the orange or
white star-shaped meat inside. This can then
be steamed to eat.
The common sea urchin (Echinus

Having cooked the crab remove the claws.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;t

^

esculenlus ) *

The green sea urchin (echinocyamus pusillus) *

Cooking Shellfish
The technique most frequently used to cook
shellfish is boiling, although under survival
conditions, steaming or roasting are a more
practical solution. Shellfish can also be
preserved (see below).
Dressing out a crab: A crab must be
carefully prepared to remove the poisonous
internal organs, this is not.the mysterious or
difficult task some people seem to think it to
be. To kill a live crab boil it for ten to fifteen
minutes, large crabs may take longer, the
guide here being fifteen minutes per pound.
Once this has been done twist off the large
claws; these contain edible meat. Next remove the small claws and separate the crab's
body from the shell, this should not pose any
difficulties but if you do find some resistance
here you can insert the point of your knife
between the shell and the body and give a
twist to effect leverage. With the body
separated from the shell remove the small sac
which lies in the big shell, along with any
green matter. Then remove the lungs, affectionately known as the 'dead man's fingers'
because of their shape. These are the parts
which must be discarded.
From the sides of the shell extract the

Separate the crab's body from the shell.

Kemove the lungs,,sac and green matter.
Serve the brown and white meat in the shell.

137

Dressing a lobster: The lobster is prepared for eating in a different way to the crab.
To kill a lobster you can either boil it in a
similar way to a crab although allowing twice
as long per weight than for a crab, or more
humanely push a spike on the point of your
knife through the top of the lobster's head at
the point with the little cross mark. Make sure
you are holding the lobster firmly. It is worth
mentioning at this point that both crabs and
lobsters are capable of making the saltiest
seadog's eyes water if they catch your finger
with their pincers. With the lobster dead
carry out the boiling.
To dress the lobster cut through the top of
the head and then down towards the tail.
Open up the two halves and take out the dark
string-like intestine and the sac which you will
find in the top of the head. These are the parts
of a lobster which should be discarded. The
meat will be found in the claws and tail.

the hard fibrous parts of the insect that you
can such as legs and wings, and cook the
remainder for a crunchy delicacy. Amongst
the Californian Indians, grasshoppers were
an important source of food and were hunted
in a number of ingenious ways. Sometimes
areas of grass land were burned and the
roasted greashoppers collected and eaten, or
in other cases they were driven into a corral or
pitfall trap. On two occasions now I have
been asked by a student if a grasshopper or
cricket is edible only to see them swallow the
captive alive before I could tell them to pull
the wings and legs off and cook it.
Worms: When I was about four years old,
I can clearly remember it still, one of my
fellow playmates ate a worm whole without
suffering any ill effects. But the advice on
cleaning worms for food that follows is the
process mentioned earlier, by prisoners
working on the Burma railway. Clean them
by storing them for twnety-four hours or more
in clean water that is preferably salted. Then
squeeze them to clean out their thread-like
gut. Now they can be added to stews or
generally mixed in with other foods. I am
reliably informed that they can be used for
creative cooking. In my experience they are
virtually tasteless.
Slugs: Even the most open minded
student of survival techniques has a personal
revulsion, and for me it is eating slugs, even
though when cooked they don't taste half so
bad. There is really only one way to cook
them and that is to kebab them. If you boil
them, a most disgusting scum settles oh the
surface of the water just making the whole
business even more repugnant.

Unmentionable Edibles
In real survival emergencies or when you are
travelling, the best source of food available to
you may well be the smaller creatures. In
most cases these are easily hunted even if you
are injured. Some of the smaller creatures are
proportionately high in nutrients.
Grubs, larvae and caterpillars: Most
smooth-skinned larvae are edible although
you should avoid those species which are
hairy or brightly coloured as they may have
chemical deterrents to predators that taste
bad. I'm afraid I cannot tell you what these
taste like as I have always respected nature's
warning symbols. Some grubs contain fat well
as very high proportions of proteinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
sometimes as high as fifty per cent. They can
be easily found by searching under rotten
bark or decaying logs; one of the largest grubs
I ever found in Britain was almost two inches
long and half an inch thick. I found it while
pulling a decaying log apart in search of punk
suitable for firelighting. Cook the grub byroasting it near or over a small bed of embers,
I usually skewer mine on small slivers of wood
and kebab them.
Insects, grasshoppers and crickets:
The exoskeleton of insects is comprised of
chitin which is undigestible to the human, but
the juicy internal parts are edible. Pull off all

We all have a pet hate when it comes to food, and for me it
is the slug. But in an emergency these are fair tucker, best
spit roasted as a foul scum is produced when they are
boiled.

Snails: While I may not like eating slugs,
snails are a completely different story. Snails
138

careful not to allow the shadow from the spear
to fall on them, I prefer to move the spear low
and parallel to the ground, keeping the light
high. A head torch is excellent for this
purpose.
Some frog species have glands in their skin
which produce toxic substances to deter their
predators. These "paratoid' glands are located
just behind the frogs' eyes and in some species
such as the South American arrow poison
frogs, produce extremely dangerous toxic
substances. For this reason always skin and
wash the frog's llesh before cooking. As a
general rule if you stick to eating members of
the Rana genus, which can be found in most
parts of the world you will be safe.

Snails are a survivor's delicacy! Escargots are tasty and
nourishing. Hunt for them early morning or evening
when they come out onto dewy grass.

are just about the finest survival delicacy I
can think of; they can't run away; they are full
of nutrients, and when cooked properly are
chewy and llavourful. Many a student is
astonished with the enthusiasm that comes
over me when I spy a big white land snail. To
cook them rake out a small bed of embers and
place them still in their shells amongst this,
with their openings up. With a little experimentation you will soon be able to judge
when they are perfectly cooked (5 minutes is
average), although if in doubt always overcook them. Extract them from their shells
with a sliver of wood.
Eggs: Another survival delicacy are eggs
which need little or no introduction. The
easiest places to hunt for them are in hedges
and reed marshes. Blackbird and robin eggs
are just as tasty, though smaller than duck or
moorhen eggs.
Crayfish: Now a rare find due to pollution, I would suggest that given a choice you
shouldn't eat them. But in the case of a real
emergency they are the fresh water lobster
and can be dealt with in the same manner as
their salty relatives. They prefer fast-flowing,
clear-water streams that run over chalk or
limestone. Being nocturnal hunters they are
often best hunted by night with a torch.
Frogs and toads: Frogs are an easy
source of food to hunt. In the day, a quick
hand and sharp eye are the tools of the trade.
But at night you will have the greatest chance
of success with a torch and trident spear.
Listen for the distinctive croaking to guide
you to them. The frogs' eyes will sparkle in the
light from your torch enabling you to spear
them not with a dramatic cast but from close
prximity with a quick flick of the wrist. Be

Frog's legs are tasty although only rarely do wild frogs
have much meat on their legs.

Toads possess paratoid glands too and for
this reason have for the most part been
considered poisonous, although I have come
across several references to toad pies being
considered a delicacy among poor farming
communities in rural Britain during previous
centuries. Presumably they carefully skinned
the toads before cooking, although I would
not suggest you take such a risk.
Snakes and lizards: Snakes and lizards
are good tucker, and can be easily caught
particularly during the early morning. Being
reptiles they are very sluggish until they have
139

are distinguishable from lizards by the fact
that they have a skin rather than a scaley
body. Some native American tribes feared
salamanders claiming that their stare indicated the presence of an evil spirit.

been sufficiently warmed by the morning sun.
Snakes have a somewhat undeserved reputation for evil, and in some parts of the world
are hunted in large numbers for an annual
mass execution born out of an almost paranoid hysteria. Particularly the rattlesnake is
so persecuted, an ignominious end for the one
venomous snake that is equipped to warn you
of his presence. For survival purposes it is no
good walking in fear, it is important to
understand these beautiful creatures if you
want to catch them for the pot.
Not all snakes are venomous and you
should make every effort to learn to recognise
the species occurring in your region. But if
you are in an area where you are unfamiliar
with the local species, consider them all as
dangerous. Most snakes will avoid humans at
all cost and will either disappear into the
undergrowth of their own accord, or can be
persuaded to leave the trail with a carefully
thrown stick or stone. The real danger lies in
surprising them by stepping on them or
moving a log or rock under which they may
be sheltering. Under these circumstances
rattlesnakes have been known to strike first
and rattle later! If you have to lift rocks in
snake country, lift them so that the opening
faces away from you. In fact most bites occur
on hands, feet and faces.
If in doubt about the nature of a snake it is
best to leave it alone. To catch a snake for
food there are two techniques. The most
practical is to pin it to the ground with a long
stick held flat against the ground and then
club it to death, after which the head and first
two inches of the neck should be chopped off
immediately and buried. It would not be very
comfortable if later on you sat on the
discarded head of a venomous snake! The
other method is to catch the snake with a
noose on the end of a long stick. I once met an
old jungle survival instructor who used to use
this method, and who kept the snakes alive
attached to the stick so that they could be
carried safely until time for a meal.
To prepare a snake for eating, gut and skin
it before cooking over the camp fire. In
general, reptile meat is best cooked by this
method. The same cooking technique should
be used for lizards who can be caught in the
early morning with a small noose of fishing
line attached to the end of a light wand.
Salamanders and newts should be avoided
altogether as they are often poisonous; they

Methods of Cooking Food
Cooking in the outdoors is essentially the
same as cooking in the homeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the only
difference is that the resources are somewhat
primitive. But I have never found this to be a
problem. If anything it is an advantage as
cooking techniques are reduced to simple
logical processes. Given the ingredients, a
campfire and a set of billies, most conventional meals can be cooked in the open; what
you achieve is only really limited by your own
imagination.
Remember that in survival situations you
need fat for the calories it contains; you
should therefore select cooking methods that
do not waste this energy-rich commodity.
Baking: Baking is best suited to fixed
camps or an expedition base camp where
there is time and space to build an oven. I
usually build an oven if I am backwoods
camping for two days or more; it is one of the
most morale-boosting fixtures of a camp. At
meal time, when the smells of the forthcoming meal start to fill the air of the camp no
call will be necessary to bring the expedition
members to eat. If you have the resources
with you for bread making organise a daily
routine for the making of bread; in my
experience people cannot get enough of
camp-baked loaves. On one relatively short
camp out I demonstrated bread baking for
some venture scouts. Having spent most of the
day building and setting up the oven there
was only time to bake two loaves by sundown.
I put the bread out so that all would have a
chance to taste it, but in the time it took me to
turn around one lone venture scout had
downed half of one of the loaves. The lesson
was plain. To start with make more than you
anticipate needing. With long term or expedition camps the novelty will wear off after a
couple of days and the demand should drop
slightly. Aside from bread, cakes, (especially
upsidedown cakes), biscuits, flapjacks and
pies can all be baked in the camp oven.
The best way to make such an oven is to use
a suitably sized metal box, or very large billy
for the oven itself and to set this into clay or
soil for insulation. If you have no such tin you
140

backpacking I try to do as much boiling as
possible as it alleviates the problem of difficult
washing upâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a welcome saving of time and
energy after a long day on the trail.
As was mentioned earlier for purifying
water, when you do not have a container that
can be heated over the fire rock boiling is a
substitute. This technique can also be applied
to boiling meat and making soups and stews.
The secret is to add the ingredients a little at a
time and cut them thin so that they cook more
swiftly, particularly the meat.
Braising: With the meat from many types
of small game, braising is the best way to both
save juices and prevent it becoming tough. It
is also an important process in the preparation of a stew (see below). To braise meat
lightly brown it in the pan with a little fat (if
you have some). If not there is usually enough
in the meat itself. Having browned the meat
add some water to the pan and simmer it
slowly with a closed lid until cooked.
Broiling (grillingIbarbecueing): This is
the technique of cooking most popularly
associated with backwoodsmanship. Meat is
arranged so that it can be cooked directly
over the heat from embers, this method is
frequently used with many of the unusual
foods mentioned above. But for joints of meat
and such like it is of secondary importance in
survival terms, as by this method most of the
calorie-rich fat is lost. For speed and convenience as well as flavour though it is a fine
cooking technique well suited to mobility. To
be fully effective with large amounts of meat it
is best to cut them into smaller pieces and
cook kebab style. Choose green sticks of non
poisonous hardwoods for any cooking utensils
for broiling, I usually peel the bark off and
dry the stick over the fire before use.
Another broiling technique is to use a hot
stone as the cooking source. I often use this
method to cook wild edible fungi as you can
have more control of the process without the
fungi scorching or disappearing into the
ember bed.
Frying: This is my least favourite way of
cooking in the backcountry; it produces a
great deal of unnecessary cleaning which
could be avoided by broiling. In a survival
situation there are those who advocate this
method as the food retains its high fat content.
But my feeling on this matter is that while the
food does retain a quantity of fat there is also
a great deal wasted in the cooking; if retaining

can still build an oven using clay. To do this
you must create an open fronted box construction using small twigs in the clay for
reinforcement. For the oven floor try to
incorporate a flat stone. Whether a simple
clay oven or a box oven it must be built over a
small trench where the fire will be placed to
heat it. This trench should extend to the far
back of the oven where a chimney can be
built of clay. To do this, place a 5cm-diameter
stick vertically against the back of the oven
standing in the fire trench. Around this
construct the chimney from clay. When it is
dry enough to support itself remove the stick
and start a small fire in the trench to dry the
clay. Until the clay is completely dry your
own oven will not function fully efficiently. A
door is very important and must fit as snugly
as possible, allowing easy inspection of the
food. I usually use a piece of wood coated in
clay, normally cut from a decaying tree
stump. To hold this closed you can build a
simple spring catch into the oven wall.
If you have not the time or resources for the
above you can still bake but the results while
good will not compare to oven baked food.
The simplest way to bake is to place your
bread mixture in the large lid of your billy set,
and tilt this towards your fire, but not so
steeply that the mixture can run out. Periodically rotate the lid so that the bread cooks
evenly. As it cooks you should be able to
increase the angle of the pan to the fire. I
often use this technique on the trail. Using a
household ready-mix cake mixture and lining
the pan with some tinned pineapple, the
result is a delicious pineapple upsidedown
cake. This is excellent fare for sweet-toothed
youngsters.
Another way to bake is to use your large
billy as an oven. Place the lid on the ground
and place some small pebbles inside it to
prevent the cooking tray coming into direct
contact with the metal of the lid. Place your
bread mix in your smallest billy. Place this on
top of the small stones and then place the
large billy over the small billy. From the
outside it should look as though the large billy
is closed and standing upsidedown on the
ground. For heat build a small fire all around
the billy.
Boiling: This is a fundamental technique
of outdoors cooking, especially for modern
trail meals which cook with only the application of boiling water. If I am lightweight
141

the fat is a primary concern you should use a
technique that does not waste any fat at all
such as steaming or stewing.
Most of the meat you will have to cook is
light in fat content but there should still be
enough to fry the meat with. If you do not
find enough in the meat remove some from
the skin. Any leftover fat in your pan should
not be wasted though, this can be used to bait
traps, make medicines, or seal and waterproof
wood and hide. Native Americans did not
wipe their greasy hands on a cloth but rubbed
the fat into their arms and skin to protect
them from the elements.
Pot Roasting: Obviously the most important factor for pot roasting is possessing a
suitable pot for the task. A normal billy is not
really suitable although one could be used at
a pinch. Ideally you need a heavy walled
container such as a dutch oven or an old iron
saucepan. You will also need more fat than
the meat itself possesses. Heat a little fat in the
pan and place the meat in and cook it till it is
well browned all over then drain off any
excess fat. Place in with the meat any herbs
and vegetables you wish to use for seasoning.

Replace the lid and cook slowly over the fire
turning the meat two or three times during
the process.
Roasting: Roasting is a similar process to
baking except you are cooking meat. If you
have built an oven there is no reason why you
should not cook a roast meal. Use a pan to
contain the meat which will collect any fat
that comes off of the joint. During the cooking
use these juices to baste the meat two or three
times.
It is also possible to roast meat without an
oven by suspending your meat to one side of
your fire on a hanging cord which can be
spun to achieve a spit roasting effect., Place a
pan under the meat to collect fat and juices
and baste in the same manner as for an oven.
To reduce the cooking time place a reflector
the opposite side of the fire to the meat. This
technique is especially effective with waterfowl such as duck which can be excessively
greasy when roasted in a pot or pan.
Steaming: I consider this to be the classic
way to cook survival food, being reliable with
little chance of burning the meal while saving
all of the flavour and goodness of the food. If

The steam pit is a slow way of cooking which leaves your hands free for other activities; it also seals in all of the food's
nutrients.

142

you are travelling, the easiest way to achieve
this technique is to wrap your food in clean
non-poisonous leaves. Wrap them in such a
way as to make a neatly tied package, then
cover the whole package in mud or clay,
making certain that there is at least an inch of
this all over. It will help enormously if you
can mix the cladding to a sticky but firm
consistency. With this done, none of the
package should be visible. Bury the package
in the embers of your fire. Fish will not take
long to cookâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;45 minutes is usually right for
an average sized river troutâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but obviously
the larger the fish the longer the time. Meat
should be cooked three times longer on
average that fish. The real beauty of steaming
is that so long as the food is properly wrapped,
you can leave it in the embers for some time
without it spoiling. Be careful when you rake
it out and open the package, as it will be full
of scalding steam.
The more usual method for steam cooking
is to use a steam pit. For this a pit is dug large
enough to contain all of the food packages to
be cooked and a fire is laid on top. The fire
should be seeded with stones suitable for
heating. When the fire has burned down to
embers and fallen into the pit, line the pit
with moist non-poisonous leavesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;preferably
large leaves such as burdock or dock. Then in
the bottom of the pit place a layer of grass and
then some more large leaves. Now place your
food packages in the pit (same as for the
above technique but without a mud or clay
coating), starting with the meat and working
up towards the top of the pit with those which
take longest to cook nearest the bottom.
Interlace each layer with a light covering of
grass.
Once all of the packages are in, push a
thumb-thick stick down through the middle
of the pit to the layer of heated rocks. If you
have laid the packages neatly in a square
pattern with a central space this still will not
break any packages. Pull the stick out and
pour in water to create the steam. Now
quickly cover over the pit with vegetation or
preferably a mat (this makes opening the pit
much easier) and seal the whole over with a
layer of soil. This cooking process will take
several hours. If I am cooking a couple of
rabbits I allow a minimum of four hours. As
with most backwoods cooking, with practise
you develop an ability to judge cooking times.
If in doubt leave the pit to cook until the soil

covering begins to cool.
To steam seafoods it is unnecessary to go to
this length. Simply smother a well stoked fire
with a large bundle of wet seaweed. Place the
shellfish or fish on top, put another layer on
top of this and leave until well cooked.
Stewing: The advantages of stewing wild
foods have already been mentioned: the
meat's nutritional value is saved, it is easily
cooked, and less palatable forms of nutrition
can be easily disguised. The secret to cooking
a good stew is twofold. Firstly the meat should
be lightly braised to seal in the flavour;
browning on a stick over the fire is also
suitable for this process. Secondly the other
ingredients are added at the right time so that
all of the ingredients are perfectly cooked. For
example meat goes in first, roots perhaps
(depending on the type) thirty minutes before
taking the pan off of the fire, with fungi
perhaps fifteen minutes and greens ten. These
are the timings which I have used most
frequently although again bush judgement
counts for a lot here. Cook the whole stew
slowly, simmering over a low heat. This is
another advantage of this type of meal as it
can be left for quite long periods just
simmering while you go about other tasks.
Preserving Food
Food preservation techniques should not just
be considered appropriate for long-term
backcountry living. If you are trapping there
are occasions when your trap line will
produce more than you expected it to. This
meat must not be wasted, especially when
preservation is so easy.
Drying: Drying is the principle technique
for producing what is known as jerky or
biltong. The most common way to dry meat is
to use the sun, but the dry heat of an oven at
low heat or hanging the meat high over a low
bed of embers is also effective, especially
during bad weather.
To jerk meat it must be correctly prepared
and butchered into long narrow thin strips.
These are both easy to dry and rack.
Commercially produced biltong is also
seasoned with spices. The meat should be
butchered under hygenic conditions; the
greatest problem you face is from flies landing
on the meat to lay their eggs. Once the meat
surface is sufficiently dry the flies will lose
interest so somehow you must keep them off
until the meat has had time to cure a little.
This is where a smudge fire comes into play;
143

this is not actually part of the drying process
itself and should not be excessively smoky. A
small smudge fire just potent enough to keep
the flies ofF, will do the job perfectly well and
will not taint the meat with wood tar. The
native Americans who jerked meat and fish in
large quantities would also locate their drying
racks on high windy promontories where the
breeze would keep flies off. One other
technique I have seen used was meat lightly
dusted with the pure white wood ash from a
well-controlled fire. The ash supposedly acted
both as an aid to drying and as a fly deterrent,
although I am not convinced that this has any
advantages over the more usual methods.
If you are using your oven to dry meat, the
problem from flies is greatly reduced,
although most backwoods ovens are not large
enough to do more than a small amount of
meat at a time. Keep the heat low and take
your time; the aim is not to cook the meat but
to drive off the moisture within it. Once dry it
should be shrivelled and fibrously brittle. One
pound of jerky is equal to four or five pounds
of fresh meat so you can see its obvious
advantage for a traveller.
As it is, jerky can be eaten raw or included
in stews, or rehydrated and broiled. But that
is not the end of the story. It can also be
ground into a powder for the manufacture of
pemmican (see below) or for use in stews.
This is a useful technique for preparing less
palatable meats and bony fish both of which
should be split or quartered and dried more
or less whole. Once dry, the meat is pounded
to a powder along with the bones; this must
be very thoroughly done. The result is a stew
seasoning complete with the vitamins contained in the bone marrow. The most useful
application of this technique is with small
bony fish, which you might otherwise be
tempted to waste.
Shellfish can be dried also, but firstly they
must be thoroughly cooked. Then they can be
strung on a thin sliver of wood or cordage and
dried in the usual manner.
Once your meat is dried it must be
carefully watched to make certain it is not
attacked by insects. Damp weather is your
greatest enemy. It is a good idea to provide
your drying rack with a rain-proof roof and to
locate it on well-drained ground; even so, in
the damp there can be problems.
For drying plants and fungi see Chapter
Six.

Smoking: This is essentially a way of
flavouring and curing meat, although it is a
stage which can be combined with drying.
Particularly useful in damp regions, smoking
helps to preserve the meat or fish. To smoke
meat you will need to build a smoke house.
The way that I prefer to go about this is to
construct a rectangular structure, walled with
large leaves to prevent smoke escaping. This
structure is constructed to allow racks of meat
to be placed inside it. Outside this is a small
fire pit which interconnects with the smokehouse by means of an underground chimney.
In this way the smoke has a chance to drybefore reaching the meat. The meat does not
risk cooking and the smoke house need not be
opened to maintain the fire. The fire should
be laid with dry aromatic wood such as alder;
it is unnecessary to force the fire to become
smokey; it will become smokey enough as it is.
Once going well close off the fire pit so that
the smoke must escape via the smoke house.
Closing off the fire in this way will also slow
the fire and make it more smokey.
As the meat dries it will become very hard.
This can be prevented by pounding and
working it occasionally although this is not
essential. If you just want to flavour the meat
so that you can eat it raw, remove it from the
smoke house once it has dried so that it
doesn't become too brittle. The type of wood
you use for this task is essential, do not use
poisonous woods and stay away from the
resinous evergreens which will taint the meat
with a resinous flavour.
Pemmican: Sometimes referred to as
scout meat, wasna (pemmican) was the food
of the Sioux scout who had to travel long
distances cross country fast and unobserved in
terrain where a fire would betray his presence
to the enemy. Tasty and energy-rich, this
highly concentrated food was compact and
lightweightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;factors which persuaded many
of the early polar explorers to use it.
Pemmican is just about the perfect survival
food containing fat and protein in fact just
about everything you need except vitamin C.
It is also light weight and if stored correctly
will keep indefinitely, in fact I am still using a
batch I made five years ago, but that's no
record. I have heard of a cache of Indian
pemmican dug up by archaeologists that was
perfectly edible even after the passing of
nearly a century.
So how is this wonder food made? Well the
144

Using a fishing spear is easy but requires patience, especially as you tend to break the spear head until you have mastered
the technique. In rocky riverbeds use the leister spear {inset top); this should not touch the river bed. In muddy or sandy
rivers use a harpoon such as that shown and pin the fish to the riverbed.
Below: Various types of fishhook made and used by the author.

145

Once the skills are mastered, life becomes, if not easy, enjoyable. Note the properly constructed shelter with cot wall beds
and fish cooking over the fire.

Nothing smells better in camp than the aroma uf newly
baked bread.

What fish you do not cook, dry and save for later.
Limpets and whelks served on a seaweed platter on the
rocky foreshore. Even though you may be miles from
civilisation good food presentation should not be lacking,
it is an important factor in keeping your morale up.

Bread and cattail; a simple springtime repast.

146

Using a hand drill. Notice the coal forming in the notch
and the bark slab used to hold the coal.

IF you have much meat or fish to preserve it is easier to make a large smoking house. A simple quadruped tipi is ideal for
this purpose, the thatching need not be as thick as that of a shelter but should be weather proof so that it doubles as a food
store house. Dig a shallow trench for four or five feet leading into the centre of the smoke house. Enclose this trench with
bark sealed with earth, at the far end dig a small fire pit. In use a small smouldering fire is lit in the fire pit and covered
over in the same way as the trench so that the smoke is forced down the trench into the smoke house, by which time it has
cooled. Arrange the meat inside the smoke house on racks allowing plenty of room for the smoke to circulate around the
meat. Halfway through the smoking process turn the meat over so that all sides are evenly treated.

there is a cool running brook there is a means
to cool food. On the trail, food packed in
watertight containers can be anchored in a
stream or brook to keep it cool.
Evaporation is another way of cooling
foods although it is much slower. For this you
will need to cover your food with a cloth or
cotton T-shirt in such a way that the cloth is
wet and can remain so by wicking up further
moisture from a container. With this done,
hang the cloth-covered food container in the
shade were it will receive a draft of air. This
draft will cause the moisture in the cloth to
evaporate taking heat away from the food
container. Given a chance to work this cooler
is very effective.

first step is to jerk your meat and powder it.
Now add to this an equal quantity of dried
berries such as pitless wild cherries (the pits
contain poison although this did not seem to
bother the Native Americans who used them
regardless), blueberries or any similar dried
berry. To this mixture add melted fat, the
general recipe is for a quantity of fat slightly
less than the quantity of meat. I usually add
more fat than this if possible as it prevents me
nibbling the pemmican on the trail and
makes it more useful as a stew ingredient and
can be easily fried. As the fat cools, shape it
into balls or better still sausage-shaped pieces.
Once hard it can be wrapped up ready for
use. Being so rich in fat it will keep
indefinitely.
Cooling: Many people consider refrigeration to be a modern technique of food
preservation, but of course this is not so. In
the arctic, refrigeration was the principle wayfood was stored. In fact the problem there was
more how to thaw the meat than how to cool
it. Unless though you are in the arctic,
refrigeration is for the most part impossible.
Cooling however is another story, wherever

Storing Food
One summer some years ago I saw a most
amusing sight while lecturing at a scout site.
A visiting party of young Dutch scouts had
gone off on a hike and left their food boxes
open with plenty of food strewn around. Of
course the local wildlife, well versed in the
potential delicacies to be found in unoccupied
campsites, descended to the feast within
153

your best option is to bury it. This is also the
best way to store long-term supplies of food
you have gathered. Choosing a well drained
sheltered spot, perhaps under an overhang,
dig a pit, trying where possible to keep the
opening to this pit smaller than the pit itself.
Now line the cache with plenty of dry grasses
before placing the food in. With the food in
place cover over with more dry-grass and mix
some aromatic herbs to disguise the scent of
the food. Finally, cover over the pit with soil
and preferably some large rocks. Never
underestimate the burrowing ability of a
hungry mammal that can scent the food you
have hidden. In some places you may be
lucky enough to find small hollows in rock
faces which can be sealed with a large rock to
the same purpose. If you have been careful
the food should be there when you need it.

minutes of their departureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the jays and
squirrels squabbling over who should have
the most. Later in the day when they
returned, the scouts immediately accused
unknown persons of having raided their
larders (despite the total absence of human
sign), to the great amusement of the warden
who had also witnessed the wildlife partying.
You might say that we should have tidied up
for them, but that is not the way of the woods;
they learned a valuable lesson that day.
Food must be correctly stored whether you
are travelling overnight or camping in one
place for a week. In the backcountry there is
only food not my food and your food. Once
food is detected there are a host of creatures
who will be trying to gain access to it. The
first step to take in keeping it out of their
reach is to wrap it securely in suitable
containers, preferably that will keep down the
scent of the food. Having so wrapped the food
it can either be put away in a rucksack or
suspended out of harms way up a tree. In bear
country all food should be suspended high in
the branches and well away from camp.
For longer term food storage or cacheing
food for a return trip from the backwoods,

NOTE: Many of the wild creatures described
in this chapter are protected from hunting by
law. It is only acceptable to gather them in
real emergency situations.

154

Cordage, Basketry,
Pottery and Glue
'Being not able to cut down trees, I burned them down, and
then burnt them off at proper lengths. This was our third
day's work after leaving our companions. The next day we
got our materials together, and completed our raft, and
floated with the stream again till we came to Wattockquitchey Falls, which are about fifty yards in length; here we
landed, and by a wreath made of hazel bushes, Capt. Ogden
held the raft, till I went to the bottom, prepared to swim in
and board it when it came down . . .'
(Major Robert Rogers, from his journals)

Cordage

Despite all of our modern technology and
materials we still depend upon rope and
string containers and glues. Even in amongst
the polypropelene, polythene and fast-acting
adhesives the old backwoods products
survive: baskets, earthware pottery, sisal
string, manilla ropes and joiner's hide glue. In
some of these cases better substitutes have yet
to be discovered, but in all there is a heartfelt
connection to our roots. The aroma of a
squeaky old basket, the wholesome sight of
home-cooked soup steaming in an earthenware bowl; these are the last remnants of our
ancient past. What sailor can resist the appeal
of a tall ship, her timbers responding to the
changing swells and the slow subtle sounds of
her canvas and tarred rigging filling with the
wind? All of these emotions and more are
brought to the surface in the backwoods
where all of the materials for life must be
fashioned from nature's bounty. For raw
materials we will use the very fabric of the
wilderness itself.

Some form of cordage will certainly be
required of every outdoors person at some
time or other. In survival situations cordage
becomes a necessity. But manufacturing cordage is a lengthy, time-consuming processâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
hence the lengths taken to avoid its use in the
shelter-building chapter. However, if needed,
cordage of almost any strength can be
produced. Many people are of the opinion
that really strong ropes cannot be made from
fibres close to hand but they are wrong.
Native people who are often referred to as
primitive were able to manufacture cordage
from grasses, other long-fibred plants and
hair which were strong enough to capture
elephants, to harpoon whales, to climb cliffs
and build bridges across ravines. One of the
greatest mysteries of the world, Stonehenge,
must certainly have involved the use of very
strong ropes in its construction. Cordage
manufacture is a skill every outdoorsman
should master; it is easy, requires the absolute
155

minimum of equipment and is a skill which
will be found perenially useful.
The most important aspect in the manufacture of any cordage is the type of fibre used.
All fibres have their particular idiosyncrasies:
some are greatly weakened when wet while
others are made flexible when moist, overcoming a brittleness which would otherwise
make their use totally impractical. Hide and
sinew are covered in Chapter Thirteen
although the rope-making techniques below
are equally applicable to them. Plant fibres
ar.e most likely to be your first option for rope
making, but if you are faced with fibres you
are totally unfamiliar with, you will need to
carry out some experiments to see whether the
fibres are suitable or not:
1. Test different methods of extracting the
fibres by light pounding. Split the stem
and bend it back to break the pith for easy
removal. Either peel away the fibres or use
the whole stem. Repeat each of these tests
with the fibres soaked in water.
2. Tie a simple knot in a single fibre and
pull it tight. Check whether the fibre
breaks or not. Do this with the fibres both
wet and dry. Then repeat the experiment
with a small bundle of loosely twisted
fibres.
These tests are a very general guide, but when
combined with the knowledge of how to
prepare the different types of fibre listed
below, you should be able to easily determine
the best way to tackle unfamiliar fibres.

in the fashion of a draw knife with a smooth
steady draw. This is then twisted slightly and
becomes the snare itself. One year I was using
a lot of willow wands for basketry and had the
opportunity to collect a great number of these
strips which I then soaked for several days,
before laying into a two strand rope. While a
little on the stiff side this rope was one of the
strongest backwoods ropes I have ever made
and only just over icm thick. Both clematis
and bulrushes shed their outer bark naturally
and need only be sorted into bundles of equal
size for easy laying up.
Bulrushes (Scirpus validus)
Wild cherry (Prunus emarginata)
Wild cherry (Prunus avium)
Clematis (Clematis vitalba)
Willow (Salix alba)
Inner barks: Some of the finest cordage is
produced from the inner bark of certain trees
most notably the Western red cedar, basswood (and related lime trees), and elm trees.
The process is somewhat labour intensive but
the finished product is well worth the effort.
The bark of a suitable tree is removed if
possible in one long strip four or more feet
long. To avoid killing the tree natives only
removed one strip from each tree of about
30cm wide, but unless your need is dire or you
are in remote heavily forested backcountry
only dead or recently fallen trees should be
considered a source of bark. Cedar trees can
often be found in such a state at the margins
of swamps and by careful pulling away
extremely long strips of bark can be removed.
If the inner bark cannot be simply pulled
away from the outer bark soak it until it is
easy. You will find that fibres are most easily
removed if stiff sections of bark or plant stems
are broken so that the stiff woody pith or bark
breaks, peeling away from the fibres enough
to offer you a starting place. For most
purposes the bark you have so secured can be
easily turned to most of your needs although
to produce the finest fibre it must undergo
another process. For this you will need to boil
the inner bark for some hours, preferably
overnight. For this the Native American
would often prepare a strong lye solution by
boiling down concentrate of hard wood ashes.
Using this to boil the bark in. Once the bark
has been boiled it can be easily separated into
finer fibres with a deft rubbing action
between your hands, quickly learned with
practise. Should you find any of the bark

Fibres for cordage
Animal fibres: (see Chapter Thirteen for
preparation techniques)
Buckskin
Hair
Rawhide
Sinew
Plant fibres: Outer barks: In most cases the
outer bark is simply peeled away and used in
long strips without any further preparation.
Cherry bark is removed from logs in a spiral
fashion. I find this easiest by scoring the strip
you intend to remove then levering it off with
the cambium attached which can be more
easily removed later (only from dead trees or
felled logs). An old poacher's trick is to select
a willow wand strong enough to take a
pheasant or rabbit and with a sharp knife to
shave a long 6mm strip from the full length of
the wand. This is achieved by using the knife
156

unco-operative pound it on a log with a
wooden mallet. With the fibres separated you
can lay up a rope using any of the techniques
listed below.
Basswood ( Tiha spp): Lime family
Buckeye (Aesculus spp): Horse chestnut
family
Elm (Ulmus spp)
Hickory (Garya spp)
Oak (Quercus spp)
Osage orange (Madura pomifera)
Western red cedar ( Thuja plicala)
Willow (Salix spp)
Structural fibres: These fibres are generally
more time consuming to gather than bark
fibres although they are more commonly
available. To separate the fibres gather the
plants and leave them to dry, natives would
gather the stems in the autumn when their life
cycle was complete and they were dry. You
will find that once stinging nettles are dry
they have for the most part lost their sting. If
you do not have time to dry the stems they
can be soaked or boiled to loosen the fibres
from the pith and outer bark though this is a
much less effective preparation technique.
Once the stems have dried they should be
split and the pith removed by pounding and
running bundles of stems around a post. With
plants such as nettles it is far easier to prepare
the fibres from a large quantity of stems. With
the pith removed the fibres should be rubbed
between your hands to further loosen and
separate them. They can now be used for
cordage manufacture.
Butterbur fibres should be simply stripped
out of the plant's stem by snapping it near the
base to reveal the fibres and then drawing
them out. They are always better worked
when allowed to dry and then resoaked.
Yucca and agave fibres can be crudely
loosened by vigorous twisting of the leaf,
although the better way to prepare them is to
soak them in warm water and to pound out
the fibres.
Agave (Agave spp)
Blackberry (Rubus frulicosus)
Butterbur (Petasites hybridus)
Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium)
Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum)
Milkweed ('Asclepias spp)
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)
Yucca ( Yucca spp)
Roots: Those roots which a tree sends out
horizontally just under the surface of the soil

can be used for extremely strong binding
material, particularly those of spruce trees.
The thin rootlets should be dug up or
searched for at the base of recently wind fallen
trees. The thickest that is really practical for
use are those which are the same diameter as
the average pencil, while any thing thinner
will be of use. The thinner roots can be used as
they are. Wash off any soil that is adhering to
them and remove the bark; this is most
quickly done by heating the root quickly over
a fire and then pulling it under the sole of a
shoe held loosely to the ground. A more
precise method however is to boil the root and
then to pull it between a split stick. Old
woodsmen used to use a metal version of the
split stick for the same purpose.
The thicker roots should be treated likewise, but are best split into thirds before use.
To split the root take a knife and split the root
longitudinally in equal thirds, some roots will
have a three armed mark in their centre; if so
use this as your guide. Having made these
cuts peel the three thirds out and grasp one in
each hand and the third between your teeth.
Now with an even pull'on each third pull the
root apart. If done correctly you should have
three equal roots sections. If you had trouble,
either the root was not boiled for long enough
or the pull you exerted was uneven. These
root sections make exceptional lacings and
were used in the manufacture of birch bark
canoes. If when you are carrying out some
lacing the root seems to stiffen apply some hot
water locally to soften it. Many more roots
can be used those listed here.
Cotton wood (Populus spp): Poplar
family
Hemlock ( Tsuga spp)
Spruces (Picea spp)
Tamarack (Larix spp): Larch family
Western red cedar ( Thuja plicata)
Withes: Withes are the least flexible of all
the backwoods cordages. I first came across
their use watching a hurdle maker gathering
small sticks of hazel into bundles. Without
any string to hand he would take a young
hazel shoot and twist it until the wood
loosened and split untidily along its length.
The stem would tend to split easiest near the
top so he would repeat the process every few
inches starting from the base. Then cutting
the flexible withe free he would use it to wrap
the sticks, overlapping and tucking the ends
where they met. After the first tuck he would
157

hold one end under his boot and tug the other
with his gnarled old hands. Another couple of
tucks and it was tied and would not loosen.
Two withe bindings per bundle and a withe
handle between the two and the bundles
could be fitted to a stick and carried hod
fashion over his shoulder. Withes are quick
and convenient for such uses and for binding
shelters together. They can be made more
flexible by heating with hot water. In the
pioneer days of North America it was withes
that were used to lash together log rafts. The
greatest drawback is that they cannot be
easily tied other than tucking the ends in a
hoop. Sometimes the timber hitch can be tied
if the withe is twisted as it is doubled back.

in the same direction. Having produced yarns
you are ready for serious rope making to
begin. Long fibres need only to be rolled
slightly on the thigh before the next step.
Thigh rolling: This is the easiest and
quickest way to make lengths of two-ply
cordage and has been traditionally employed
by native peoples all over the world. Take two
long fibres or yarns and tie them together
(alternatively one long yarn can be doubled
at its middle). Holding the knot in your right
hand, roll the yarns the opposite way to the
direction in which they were spun, using the
palm of your hand on your thigh as shown. At
the end of the action clamp the yarns to
prevent the twist you have applied to them
from unravelling and release the knotted end.
If all is well this should twist up in the
opposite direction to your rolling to form a
two-ply strand. Now hold the strand where
the yarns are separatingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; probably about
fifteen centimetres from the knotâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and repeat
the process. Writh care you will be able to
produce a tight length of cordage of any
length. I often sit crossed legged for this
process and hold the strand with the toes of
my left foot, thereby freeing one hand to keep
the yarns from tangling. If you are using long
fibres simply add in another fibre. As you
near the end of the ones you are already
working, try to keep the cordage diameter
even throughout the whole length.

Rope Making Techniques
Rope making is an old and fascinating subject
but here we are confined to the backwoods
techniques which can be carried out alone,
and without machinery. None-the-less the
techniques are the same in principle to those
used to fashion the giant hawsers of the
dockyard. Fibres are taken and twisted
together into a yarn; this yarn is combined
with other yarns to form a strand and in turn
strands to form a rope. The simpliest way to
form a yarn is to take some fibres, tease them
out into a line and then role this on your thigh
with the flat of your hand, so that the fibres
twist together and tighten on each other. If
you are working with fine fibres like those of
the stinging nettle, this is where you will need
to start (many fibres are best soaked before
working). You can continue working this way
or transfer the yarn you have so far created to
a spindle and spin up the rest of the fibres into
a yarn. To do this tie the end of your yarn to
the underside of the fly wheel and then bring
it up around the edge of the wheel and attach
it just above the wheel. Now spin the wheel
keeping the yarn of fibres you are feeding into
it held at an angle of about forty five degrees
to the spindle the yarn will wrap itself around
the spindle and the twist will be imparted to
the fibre being fed onto the spindle. With each
stop wind the yarn you have spun onto the
spindle and feed some new fibres into the
yarn. Of course it is essential to spin each time

Thigh rolling fibres into cordage.

Spinning: Two-ply cordage can also be
spun by simply attaching two yarns to the
spindle and reversing the direction of spin
from that of the yarns. The spindle then twists
the yarns together, but this technique leaves a
lot to be desired since the strand is left quite
loose and is not evenly twisted.
Hand-laying ropes: Twisting together
158

you do this, use the free and extended right
index finger to hook up the untwisted strand
and transfer it across the left index finger to
occupy the position vacated by the twisted
strand. You can now let go of the twisted
strand and repeat the process for the untwisted strand. Continue working in this way,
twisting the strand to the left of your left index
finger and exchanging it for the untwisted
strand. After several repeats you should begin
to see the rope appearing towards the palm of
your left hand.
Left-hand lay: This must be used for fibres
which tighten when twisted towards you,
when held in the left hand. There are two
ways to lay up these fibres: the easier is to use
the above technique only working in the right
hand. For this, start by holding the strands in
your right hand (the fibres should now
tighten when twisted away from you) and
carry out the operations described above
reading right where it says left and left where
it says right.
Personally I find that I left-hand lay easier
if I work the strands in my left hand in a
slightly different manner, as this requires only
the learning of a technique modification.
Hold the strands as described for the righthand lay, but this time impart the twist
towards your body and to the lower strand,
that which lies between the left index and
second fingers. When this is twisted to the
point of kinking, clamp it between the right
thumb and index finger. Now draw it
upwards across the left index finger at the
same time using your extended right second
finger to hook the untwisted strand down to
lie between the left index and second fingers.
Repeat the process to produce the cordage, in
this case twisting towards you only the strand
to the right of your left index finger and
exchanging it for the untwisted strand.
The above descriptions may seem confusing, so it would well be worth spending some
minutes with two shoe laces practising these
techniques. To produce the best cordage,
work at the tips of your fingers and keep the
twist tight while you work. Most beginners
tire after about a metre of cordage has been
produced which shows as a deterioration in
the evenness of the cord. But this problem
disappears with practise.
Adding in: Eventually you will reach the
end of the fibres or yarns you are working. To
extend the cordage simply introduce some

A spindle makes the task of spinning long lengths of
fibres much easier.

yarns is referred to as 'laying up' and for thick
fibres must be done by hand. While relatively
slow and laborious, once your hands are
trained to operate by feel, you will work quite
quickly. This technique is the surest way to
produce high quality cordage. You can use
any long fibres in this processâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even straw or
grassâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or better still use strands laid as by the
previous methods. As a rough guide you are
laying up a rope correctly if the fibres seem to
tighten slightly and do not unwind from each
other when released. You always twist in the
opposite direction to a previous lay.
Start by tying two bundles of fibres or two
already prepared strands together and
holding them in your left hand. This hand
should be held palm upwards with the knot
held with your thumb so that the two strands
pass either side of the index finger. If you are
using unspun fibres you can use either of the
following techniquesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although most people
find the first the easier to learn.
Right-hand lay: If you are usinf pre-spun
fibres you must impart the twist to the strands
in the opposite direction to that in which they
have been spun. If you are uncertain of which
direction this is, you are twisting in the
correct direction when the fibres tighten up
(and in the wrong direction if they open up
and become loose). To use the right-hand lay
method, the fibres should be tightening when
twisted away from you; if they tighten only
when twisted towards you, use the left-hand
lay method described below.
Starting with the uppermost strand (that to
the left of your index finger), impart a twist,
away from your body, to this strand, by
rolling it between the fingers of your right
hand. When it is twisted to the point of almost
kinking, clamp it between the thumb and
second finger of your right hand to prevent it
unravelling. Now draw it down to the
position of the untwisted strand, between the
index and second fingers of the left hand. As
159

new fibres or yarns to the end of the old ones
by laying them alongside and twisting them
together. Once laid in they will be locked in
place. To avoid uneven bulges where the joins
occur, add them in gradually by staggering
the ends of the yarns you are working, so that
no two add in points lie directly opposite each
other.
Braiding: Braiding or plaiting can also be
used to produce strong cordage. For cordage,
the best method to use is the round plait. This
was frequently used in the production of horse
hair ropes and snares. But the greatest value
of plaits is that they generally produce a tape
or flat length of cordage which is ideal for
producing shoulder straps, belts and tump
lines (straps attached to baskets for carrying,
usually fitted across the shoulders and chest
for men and to the forehead for women). The
accompanying illustrations should be self
explanatory. Fibres can be added in the same
way as described above.

Modern Cordage for the Trail
One of my greatest annoyances is the quantity of nylon cord left behind by high-tech
backpackers. Nylon cord is designed to be
strong and hence it rots slowly and is a great
hazard to wild life. If I am backpacking I will
certainly carry a hank of nylon cord but I will
never return with less than I set out with. In
many parts of Europe it is possible to meet all
of your cordage needs from the tangles left
behind by less caring trekkers.

Wood Burning and Digging
Out
Many modern people who are accustomed to
swinging a metal axe have difficulty
understanding how able early man was at
felling large trees. In Poole harbour on the
south coast of England, the remains of an
ancient mesolithic dug-out canoe were
discovered. No small vessel, this canoe was

Wooden bowls and utensils are durable and pleasing to use, at first they need only be functional items but as the days pass
they can be refined. I carved the bowl on the left from a horse chestnut burl. The bowl on the right holds pemmican over
five years old that is still edible!

160

hewn in one piece from a giant oak tree, the
supporting ribs simply carved out of the wood
itself. Speculated as being used for transporting trade goods this may have been the
cargo vessel of its day.
The secret tool of these men was of course
fire. Most woods can be hollowed with fire,
the secret being to keep the fire small and slow
burning and to work only with seasoned
wood. Any areas that you do not wish to
hollow should be protected with clay or mud.
This same technique can of course be used to
hollow bowls and cups. I have a noggin made
from the burl of a tree some nine years ago,
which has travelled with me to many parts of
the world and though you may call me a
romantic, I will swear that fresh clean spring
water tastes better in no other container. The
advantage in using a burl is that the grain of
the vessel follows its outline, reducing any
moisture loss from escaping along the grain.
Take care with the burning, doing a little at. a
time so as not to split the grain, occasionally
stopping to scrape out the charred wood.

words could, for bound up in its weave were
many hours of the maker's life.
Basket weaving is of importance though to
those who would be totally at home with
nature for with this skill you can provide
yourself food and cooking containers, water
carriers and mats to work upon. The materials for basket weaving are available everywhere: any fibrous leaves grasses or similar
vegetation can be used in some way for
weaving. Where possible plant materials
should be allowed to dry before weaving and
then slightly soaked to make them flexible
again. The following techniques will offer you
ways to work each type of weaving material.
The vertical fibres that form the sides of a
basket are called warps while the horizontal
fibres that weave around the warps are called
wefts. In the following section I have confined
the discussion to the simple basic techniques
for survival use. For more detailed information on decorative basketry there are
many excellent books available.
Basketry Techniques and Materials
Birch bark: This is one of the easiest
materials to make into baskets although it is
only available in sufficient quantities in the
large birch forests of the north. Gather the
outer bark in large wide sheets by levering it
off the tree with care to avoid it splitting; you
will find that it tends to curl up. While the
experience of years has taught the northern
red men to remove the bark without killing
the tree you will find all of your needs satisfied
by fallen trees. To make the bark more pliable
for basketry, soak it or douse it with hot water,
I also usually lay it out on some flat ground
and weight it down with some heavy rocks to
keep it flat. The white outside of the bark will
form the inside of the finished basket so lay
the bark white side up, cut out the design
using a knife with a sawing action and fold it
into the required shape with the further
assistance of warm water.
These baskets are held together with simple
lacing. For this prepare some spruce rootlets.
Having decided where the lacings will be,
bore the lace holes through the layers with a
bone awl and then insert a match-sized peg to
act as a temporary pinning. The boring of the
lace holes is not easy. Take your time as it is
all too easy to split the bark in line with its
grain; it helps to bore the bark against a firm
wooden support. With the container

Basketry
Basketry is one of the few backwoods crafts to
have gained acceptance inside our bastions of
concrete and steel, and has managed to
survive in its perfect purest form. There is a
magic in basket weaving; the fascinating
interlocking weave of a basket speaks of the
maker's understanding of the raw materials.
No two baskets are ever exactly alikeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as the
Native American would say, each possesses its
own medicine, and surely this is true. Take a
simple household basket and stare into its
mezmerising weave and there lies a story of
growth and perfect harmony between maker
and material. Weaving a basket is not an
outdoors activity most students of bushcraft
are interested in; it lacks the excitement and
obvious value of the firelighting and shelter
building. Yet to forage for the materials and
then sit in the dappled light of a woodland
glade to weave is one of the most absorbing
, and enjoyable experiences of woodcraft.
When the basket is complete its weave will
speak to you of the days of its making and the
company of that time, every time you look at
it or use it. Amongst the Porno people of
California it was traditional to give a beautifully worked feather-covered basket as a gift;
such a gift spoke louder of friendship than any
161

Reeds, bracken or grasses can be woven into mats for beds, blankets, shelter doors or even roofing. While you can
construct a loom for this purpose the weave is usually tighter if done by hand.

Simple storage baskets can be made using
this technique very easily. Plait a square or
rectangular basket base leaving the warps
and wefts protruding equally all round; these
will be bent upwards to form the warps of the
basket walls and another weft introduced to
weave in and out of them around the basket
sides. If extra material must be added to
extend them, simply lay it along side the warp
or weft it is to extend, and then work it into
the weave.
More complicated forms of this technique
can be used for effect passing the wefts over
changing numbers of warps or plaiting at
different angles; the possibilities are endless.
Twining: This is one of the most practical
backwoods basketry techniques because of the
ease with which it can be used with fibrous
plants such as clematis and honeysuckle.

completely pinned, start to lace it together. If
the basket is to be waterproof, apply pine
pitch to the overlapping joints before pinning.
I usually lace up the basket and then apply
local heat with a fire brand to the pitch to
encourage it to melt and seal the joint; the
lace holes will have to be sealed last of all. For
support to prevent the basket distorting, a rim
must be formed using a thin sapling or split
root, this is simply sewn on (see accompanying designs).
Plaiting: This is the simple under/over
weave which is the fundamental technique of
weaving. While there are many variations on
this technique, the principle remains the
same. It is an ideal technique for raw
materials that come in the form of flat
stripsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as some barks and long reedlike
leaves.
162

Starting with a set of warps, the weft is woven
in pairs which are twisted around each other
in between the warps. This technique can be
used to produce blankets, sandals or burden
baskets. The Paiute weavers could produce
such tightly twined baskets that once filled
with water and the fibres had swollen, they
were waterproofâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which led to waterbottles
being woven with a typical bottle shape. The
Apache also wove water bottles but they
further proofed them by smearing the outside
with pine pitch.
Coiling: Coiling is an easy technique to
learn and produces strong rugged baskets.
The principle is simple: a bundle of fibres such
as grass stems are wrapped with another fibre
such as bramble fibres, and coiled in a tight
spiral being locked together by sewing to the
previous coil as it is wrapped. An awl or large
bone needle is a great advantage here. This is
an excellent method of producing very large
baskets of the 'Ali Baba' variety; they are
ideal baskets for storing food in.
The accompanying illustrations show the
basic ways these techniques are used to
produce the most valuable forms of survival
basketry. There is no end to the variety of
baskets you can produce and no reason why
the above techniques cannot be combined in
one basket.

the ground with a digging stick or a pick
improvised from an antler tine. Damp clay
can usually be pulled straight from the stream
bank. Once collected, store or carry the clay
in some form of container such as a basket to
avoid contaminating it with any more particles of debris and woodland litter than it
already contains. Very damp clay occurs as
slurry and will need to be collected in a
waterproof container or large billy.
Preparing the clay: Occasionally you
may be lucky enough to find a source of clay
that is almost perfect in consistency and free
from debris. If you are careful with your
gathering, little more will need to be done to
this clay save adding temper (below). But
more often than not, the clay will need careful
preparation. The easiest clay to deal with is
dry clay. This should be dried and then
pounded into a fine powder; in this process
any leaf matter or other debris can be
removed. The finest powdered clay has a
similar feel to talcum powder. Once sifted of
unwanted matter, it can be rehydrated to a
slightly dry dough consistency, ready to have
the temper added. Some people prefer to add
the temper before the water as it can be mixed
in more thoroughly, but this is not essential.
Wet clay on the other hand is more tricky
to deal with, becoming more difficult the
wetter it is. Clay that is just too moist but not
runny, should be kneaded to remove unwanted matter and can then spread out to dry in
the sun or on an absorbent material such as
an old T-shirt or bark mat. Alternatively you
can add quantities of dry powered clay; even
temper can help to dry it out.

Pottery
Pottery is the backwoods equivalent to metal
cooking containers and is well within the
production capabilities of any fixed camp
with a ready source of clay. In fact much of
the world's most celebrated pottery was
produced by primitive societies under the
same conditions.
Gathering clay: Clay is difficult to mistake: it is a densely packed soil which has a
slimy surface when wet and becomes plasticine like in texture when damp. I have always
found the best naturally-occurring clay at
stream beds and spring seepages where it can
be easily spotted due to the water having
washed away the obscuring detritus. If the
stream or river bed has dried up, the clay may
have dried out, although it should still be
fairly easy to recognise. Dry clay forms hard
lumps which crumble to a fine powder when
crushed, and will exhibit the earlier
characteristics when made wet.
Dry clay may well need to be picked from

At its wettest, clay becomes liquid and is
then referred to as slip, this can be very useful
as will be mentioned later. However clay that
occurs in this form takes more effort than is
convenient to prepare, although once treated
this can be some of the purest clay you will
ever work. Place the liquid clay into a large
container (preferably a metal billy or waterproof bark container). Now it is important
that the liquid is well agitated by stirring; this
will allow any particles to separate out and
either float to the surface or sink to the
bottom. Remove any matter that floats to the
surface by scooping with your fingers and
pour off the mixture into another container
leaving any rubbish that has sunk to the
bottom with the dregs. An added refinement
here is to filter this mixture through a cattail
163

leaf mat or loosely woven basket. Now let this
sit until the clay particles have separated from
the water and floated to the bottom. I usually
leave this for at least a day. Should there be
any more debris risen to the surface remove it
before pouring off the water. With the water
poured off you have a pure slip which can be
saved for later use or dried for clay to work.
To dry it, pour it out onto an absorbent mat
and allow it to dry. If you have an oven it can
be slowly dried as for jerking meat. If you are
using a metal container this process can be
speeded up by boiling the mixture to drive off
more moisture in the form of steam.
-~
Temper: Temper is an important ingredient in your clay mixture; it helps to prevent
the clay from cracking as it dries, binding and
reinforcing the clay. For temper you can use a
variety of materials although each must be
reduced to a fine powder if it is not already of
that form: crushed sea shells, fine sand,
crushed broken pots, fine stoneworking dust,
cornmeal, can all be used. Plant fibres and
hair can also be used. The amount of temper
to add will vary from clay to clay and will be
learned through experience, but as a roughand-ready guide, between twenty to fifty per
cent will do. My favourite temper are
sandstone rocks that have been used in a
sweat lodge; these are stones that have been
taeated to glowing in a fire and then rapidly
cooled by dousing with water. Once dry they
can be crumbled and ground down to a fine
powder very easily.

on the former as it shrinks during the drying
and will crack. Instead, leave the clay for a
few minutes until it is more manageable, and
then remove it to dry, preferably elevated on
a rack to allow air to circulate freely around
it.
A mould is the opposite: a container or
other pot that the clay can be used to line
thereby taking on the correct shape; of course
narrow-necked moulds cannot be used. If you
wish to mould a narrow-necked pot you will
need two mouldsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one for the base and the
other for the top. Moulded in halves, the
moulded clay should be allowed to dry
slightly so that it becomes more rigid and
manageable, then the two halves can be
joined and sealed together with water as for
coiling (below). To prevent the mould or
former sticking to the clay I wet the mould or
former thoroughly with water and then cover
it with temper. The moisture enables the
temper to adhere evenly all over, which in its
turn acts as a lubricant to prevent the clay
from sticking.
Coiling: This is the most commonly used
backwoods pottery technique which can be
used to shape pots of many different shapes
and sizes. The technique involves rolling out
long snake-like pieces of clay and coiling them
upwards in a spiral to the shape of pot you
desire, in a very similar way to coiling a
basket.
To begin with, it is usually best to form a
base by moulding; for backcountry use a
conical pot is more useful than a flatbottomed pot. The conical base can be easily
propped up between rocks or in a ground
depression and when heated is a better shape
for transmitting the heat to the contents. Let
the base harden slightly while rolling out your
coils. This is best done using a flat surface, but
if you have no suitable work surface roll the
clay vertically between your palm in a similar
action to that used for hand drill firestarting.
The coils should all be of the same diameter.
To fit the coils to the pot, score the rim of the
base where you intend to attach the coil and
also the edge of the coil to be attached, then
wet the surface with water or slip and bring
the two together. I prefer to flatten the coils I
use so as to form a higher thinner wall. The
coil should be worked into the base and
smoothed over but be careful not to trap
unwanted air pockets. Continue adding coils
in this fashion until the pot is of the size and

Pot Construction Techniques
With the clay purified and temper added, you
are ready to begin the construction of your
pot. Start by kneading the clay thoroughly for
a few minutes to work out any air pockets that
may remain in it. If this is not done the air
trapped inside the clay will expand when
heated causing the pot to crack or shatter
during the firing. With the clay well kneaded
you can proceed to any of the following
techniques.
Moulding: This is the simplest pottery
technique: you simply take the clay and push
and pinch it into the shape you are aiming to
produce working slowly and carefully to
avoid cracking. This technique can also be
used in combination with a former or mould;
a former is a suitably-shaped object that the
clay can be formed around, such as a conical
or oval boulder. Never leave the clay to dry
164

Even the crudest clay pot is a triumphant success for a
survivor. With practice there is no limit to your creativity
and skill.

shape you intend. Now while the clay is still
malleable, smooth it all over or work a
pattern into the surface. Rack the pot to dry.
Box or slab construction: This method
was commonly used by native people particularly in South America where incredible pot
designs were fashioned in this way, but is
really only practical if you have a flat work
surface available to you. The clay is rolled out
into a flat slab in the same way as pastry is
rolled out except that you move round the
clay instead of turning the clay round. The
clay slab should be evenly thick all over,
about 6mm is a good thickness for most pots.
From this slab the pot walls can be precisely
cut out with a sharp thin blade. These pieces
are then assembled by scoring along the joint
and glueing with slip. An easy technique to
start with is to form a square or rectangular
box with a hole cut out for the top. This will
make an excellent grain or flour storage pot.
The only drawback with these pots is that
they are far harder to fire than the more
conventional curved designs.
Just as with basketry do not hesitate to
combine these techniques to produce a
particular design.

between a smooth stone and a wooden paddle
or by scraping them back. The paddling
method is well suited for coiled pots as it will
compress the walls, bedding down any
weaknesses between the coils. In fact any
weak joints will separate in long cracks. While
inconvenient it is better to discover these flaws
now rather than after the firing. For the finest
pots, paddle the walls and then scrape them
as well, the walls can now be embellished with
pattern or polished smooth. All of these
processes will go towards reducing the
chances of the pot cracking during the firing,
and so time is well spent at this stage. Any
scrapings that are produced can be recycled
for clay. With the tidying complete, leave the
pot to dry thoroughlyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;preferably in the
shade where it will dry slowly and evenly.
Pottery is not a craft that can be rushed; this
drying process can take a week and one
particularly damp British summer, my pots
took a fortnight to dry.
Firing
Firing is really the simplest stage of pot
production, but being the moment of truth it
is fraught with anxiety. Even when you have
spent hours carefully preparing all the
preceding stages, the feeling of dread never
goes away. So to help alleviate this tension
follow the first law of firing: fire a batch of
pots together, not just one pot.
There are no set rules to firing pots; this is
one more of those times I have to say that you
will learn by experience, but here are some
tips. Pots will break during firing if they
contain pockets of air, moisture, structural
weaknesses or have walls of uneven thickness.
They will also break if heated too rapidly, at
too high a temperature, too long, too cool or
too fast. There are many ways to arrange the
firing, you can use your oven as a kiln, or
construct a kiln, or bury the pots in sand with
a fire on top, or just place them in a fire. But
the best technique I have found is progressive
firing. This allows the pots time for moisture
and trapped gases to escape before the clay
hardens. The greatest benefits of this method
are that you can more or less see what is
happening and it is the best method I know of
firing pots in humid environments.
Progressive firing: The morning of the
firing, place the pots to be fired around your
campfire to drive off moisture (if I have a
plastic bag available I place the pots in direct

Tidying
When the pot has had some time to dry but is
still damp to the point of feeling leathery, the
final tidying up can be done. The aim here is
to reduce the walls to an even thickness. If this
is not done, the thicker parts of the wall will
dry at a different rate to the thinner parts
leading to cracking. There are two ways the
walls can be thinned either by beating them
165

find those trees that have been grazed and are
oozing the pitch. To put it to its best use it
must be purified and this can be done in one
of two ways. The traditional method is to
place the pitch in a muslin bag or bark
container, and then to place this into a
container of boiling water weighted so that it
sinks. The heat of the water then melts the
pitch which escapes from the container and
rises to float on the surface where it can be
scooped up. The other method shown to me
by a flint-knapping friend involves placing
the pitch into a flat container such as an old
mess tin which has some holes drilled in it at
one end. This is then heated so that the liquid
pitch runs out of the holes, the tin being
slightly tilted, into a collecting container. To
use the pitch it should be heated and mixed
with finely powdered charcoal. This makes it
less brittle and helps to harden it. If you are
really lucky you may find some beeswax
which can be added to the resin for similar
reasons. Other trees also produce pitch (such
as the birch tree) and can be used in the same
way.

sunlight the day before the firing sealing them
in the plastic bags just before sundown) and
turn them occasionally to evenly distribute
the heat. While this is happening, gather your
firewood and prepare the kiln fire. This will
need to be separate from your campfire. The
temperature of the kiln fire will need to be
gradually increased to really hot over a period
of several hours without any cooling, so make
certain you have gathered enough fuel.
Placing the pots in a pile (neatly and evenly
arranged), lace the pile with small dead
hardwood sticks and build your fire in a circle
around the pots about an arm span away,
gradually moving it closer. Take your time
here since this first stage should not be rushed.
As you rake the fire closer, the pots will
become hotter until the fuel in and amongst
them begins to burn. At this point rake the
fire around them and build the fire up to a
frenzy. If you are well organised this should
be done at a leisurely pace. Keep this fire
going for at least an hour and then let it cool
naturally until you can handle the pots, this
may take all night or with really large firings,
two nights. Never try to cool a pot with cold
water.

Pine pitch is applied hot and hardens on
cooling. As it hardens very quickly it is best to
apply it to the general area to be glued first,
and then to reheat it with the items to be fixed
next to each other. As it cools, you can make
the pitch surface smooth by running a wet
finger down the still plastic glue. Once fixed,
the glue is strong but tends to be brittle and
becomes soft again near heat so mind those
glued items near the campfire.
A word of warning: never look into a
container of boiling pitch as it bubbles and
spits violently. I once had a near miss when
droplets of pitch solidified on my eye lashes.
Unpleasant to remove, it would have been
worse had it gone into the eye itself.

To test those pots that have not cracked,
flick their rim and listen for a crisp clear ring.
If the ring is dull the pot is flawed although
not necessarily useless; use it for food storage
instead of cooking.

Pine Pitch and Resin Glues
Pine pitch or resin is exuded by some trees to
close up cuts in their bark and prevent
infections. Naturally sticky, it makes first-class
waterproof glue. Gathering the pitch is a
time-consuming business; you wilL need to

166

Stone and Bone Working
'He serves the stone and the stone shapes him: it has taught
him to go slow, to pay attention; he has learned to be
amazed. He will hold a proper stone for days, sitting
patiently and smoking his pipe, waiting for the stone to
reveal its form; his hands do the rest. He is no longer fooled
that he is the maker; he allows the stone to use him. In
return it shows him how to die: patiently, face full of
sunlight, bathed in rain, dried in wind, slowly, slowly
wearing away.'
(C)\A Man Carving Stone: Journey of the Medicine Man by Red

Hawk)

Almost every skill of woodcraft requires the
use of a cutting tool of some description. For
the most part we take metal knives and axes
for granted but there will be times when even
the best prepared outdoorsman is without a
cutting tool. It is at these times that the ability
to produce a blade from stone will be very
handy. At other times you may have a knife,
but a stone tool specially designed to do the
job in hand, is far better suited. I always use a
stone scraper for arrow production and for
hideworking. Stone tools do not have the
same cutting action as steel and require a very
different application; to use them to their best
advantage requires a better understanding of
the grain of the material being worked.
When I teach novices, I explain to them
that in an ideal world they would not carry a
knife until they were able to improvise an
alternative cutting tool. Many of them doubt
the effectiveness of stone tools but it was stone
that played a large part in the forming of the
world we know today. Man first started using
stone tools several million years ago. If that
span of time were to be represented as a year,

man started using stone tools on January the
first and only stopped using them as the
predominant tool on December the thirteenth
at about 6 pm. From that time to December
the thirty-first, man learned to work metals
and developed the science and technology to
take men to the moon and back. In Europe
the use of stone tools survived well into the
Bronze Age until bronze tools became accessible to all.
Before you embark upon learning to work
stones, be warned that it is an addictive
undertaking. I can think of no other
woodcraft skill bar tracking, that is so totally
absorbing. Every time you pick up a stone
you will begin to see the possibilities it
possesses; to start working it is to see the day
pass as if reduced to the span of minutes. As
your ability and skill progresses you will begin
to create more beautiful and artistic artefacts.
When this happens, to progress further you
will need to meet other stone workers and
compare
and
share
techniques
and
discoveries.
A full description of stoneworking techni167

que is beyond the scope of this book so what
follows is an introduction to stone working
aimed at survival situations. The most important aspect of stone working is
understanding the rock you are working with.
In the backcountry there is little scope for
choosing what is available to you, all you can
do is experiment with the local materials to
determine which best suits your needs and
how best to work it.
Rock is man's most abundant resource
material but occurs in many widely differing
forms, each with its own unique physical
propertiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although in stone working terms
each rock can be categorised by its predominent suitability to one of only a handful of
stone working techniques. Assuming that you
are faced with an unfamiliar rock type which
you are uncertain how to work, the first step is
to study it. Does it crumble easily? Can you
grind it easily? Does it split like slate? Can you
strike offa flake with a glancing blow and if so
does it possess a mussel-shaped fracture? (see
conchoidal fracture below)? It should not
take long to determine the qualities of the
rock. Before you begin to work try always to
select a rock which is best suited to producing
the tool or tools you intend.
Early man often went to great lengths to
obtain the really best material for his tools,
quarrying for flint at the cost of great labour,
sometimes modifying the properties of the
rock by heating. In those regions where good
rock for tool making was not readily available, trade routes sprang up along which both
raw material and finished tools were traded,
sometimes across vast distances. So don't just
settle for the first rock that you come
acrossâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;unless it really does meet your needs.

if thin enough. Flint axes were often abraded
all over to give them a polish and more
uniform shape, to ease hafting and strengthen
their cutting edge. Using this technique
requires patience and plenty of elbow grease.
To achieve a high polish on the glassy rocks,
abrasive stones of different coarseness were
used, the final polish being achieved with
bark and buckskin.
Pecking and crumbling: This technique
is suitable for use with rocks which are dense
but will not split easily or produce the
mussel-shaped fracture necessary for knapping, although some of the coarser grained
rocks which can be knapped can also be
pecked. Pecking involves the repeated striking
of the rock to gradually reduce the rock bycrumbling off tiny particles. This process can
be very slow indeed. To speed up the process
use a quartzite stone to hammer with as this
rock will present many tiny sharp faces to the
work piece and cut more particles off more
quickly. This technique was used mainly for
cutting grooves in stones to enable them to be
hafted easily for use as hammers or tomahawks. Because the best tomahawks and
hammers are made from hard dense rocks
which are slow to peck a groove into, I find
that the best way to complete a work is a little
at a time instead of sitting down to do the job
in one working. A little and often done in
those odd free moments by the campfire and
the job is soon finished.
Incising engraving and splitting: Incising is the process of cutting or abrading a
groove into the rock so that with the
application of a blow or snapping force the
rock can be broken in a precise manner. This
technique was generally used with the really
hard dense rocks such as nephrite. For
survival situations these rocks are really too
hard to work to be of practicable use. But for
the native the very toughness of these rocks
made them desirable for drill bits and chisel
points as well as bladed weapons and cutting
tools. In general they were worked by first
incising and blocking out to a suitably shaped
and sized work piece before being finished by
abrading or pecking. In survival situations
this technique may be of value in the
preparation of more easily worked rocks such
as the harder sandstones. For a saw you will
need a thin slab of rock such as slate. This is
worked back and forth like a saw with the
addition of sand and water as extra abrasives.

Stone-Working Techniques
Abrading and grinding: The simplest yet
one of the most superior of all stone-working
techniques is abrading. As stone working goes
this is a slow process that can be used even on
the hardest rocks although it becomes less
practical to do so. The method involves the
rubbing of the workpiece against or with an
abrasive rock such as sand stone. To speed the
process up you can add sand and water. This
is an excellent technique for sharpening stone
blades particularly from materials like slate
which can be sharpened to a very sharp edge
168

With really thick pieces of rock it may be
necessary to cut two grooves from opposite
sides that almost meet in the middle. The
desired section can then be struck off or
broken off using an anvil stone.
Engraving is essentially a decorative
technique whereby a sharp harder rock is
used to carve small grooves out of the work
piece. The best engraving tool for this purpose
is a quartzite or flint burin, which has a
suitably prepared point. If you are making
primitive tools it is a shame if you only make
them for function, around the campfire there
is plenty of time to decorate and embellish the
tools you have made.
Splitting is a technique which can be used
with rocks that can be broken into more or
less regular slabs. Slate is the obvious example
although I once split a large piece of
sandstone to produce a suitably thin flat base
for an oven. The best guide to whether or not
a rock can be easily split is the presence of
visible fault lines. To split the rock improvise
a wedge. This need not be thick. A long
slender wedge is usually best, made from
stone if possible perhaps by abrading. Place
the wedge in the natural fault line and strike
it a straight blow with a wooden baton. If all
is correctly prepared the wedge should work
its way into the rock widening the fault line. If
the wedge disappears into the fault without
your being able to split the rock, carefully
repeat the process with a slightly larger
wedge. The real key to success is patience, if
you move up to a much larger wedge the rock
may snap on the weak side rather than
splitting. Really long slabs should be split
from both ends to avoid this problem.
Drilling: Rock can be drilled for making
net sinkers, spindle fly wheels and hammer
hafting. Even glassy rocks such as flint can be
drilled given the time. At the simplest a rock
drill is simply a wooden drill rotated between
the hands or by means of a bow or pump drill.
The cutting is achieved by the abrasive action
of sand and water at the drill base. But this
can be improved by the use of a stone drill bit
(see below). In almost all cases drilling rock is
a slow laborious process, most holes being
drilled from opposing sides to meet in the
middle,
creating
a
characteristically
hourglass-shaped hole.
Knapping: Knapping is the technique
used to work glassy rocks or rocks that break
like glass with a mussel-shaped fracture. This

is called the 'CONCHOIDAL' fracture
which is common to many rocks. Because the
rock fractures in this way you can predict how
the rock will break when struck in a
particular fashion. The technique then involves the removal of flakes from a core by means
of pressure or blows applied at a predetermined angle. This technique of stone working
is the most complicated having many
variations designed to meet the wide range of
circumstances met when working the stone.
Yet for all its complexity it is the most
versatile and quickly used of all the techniques. With practise and the correct materials
you should be able to produce an axe in
roughly one hour or less and an arrow head in
between twenty to thirty minutes depending
on how refined you decide to make them. (Of
course real craftsmen may take longer over
particularly beautiful pieces of work.
The first step to flint knapping is obtaining
suitable stone to work. Some of the rocks
which can be used such as obsidian which Is a
volcanic glass are more or less problem free
whereas flint is often full of problematic fossils
and fractures. This is particularly true of the
surface flints most easily available to you.
These are exposed to the elements and can
develop hairline fractures due to the freezing
and thawing action of winter frosts. These
hairline fractures will act as effective barriers
to the Shockwaves from your blows causing
the stone to break in an unpredictable
manner. Such fractures can be very difficult
to detect until you actually start work,
although a good field guide used by most
European flint knappers is the tap test. A
good flint when given a light tap with a
hammer stone (see below) will ring out with a
clear clean note, whereas a fractured flint will
give a sharp or dull note. With practise you
can become quite proficient at guaging
precisely how good or bad a piece of flint is by
this means. If you find a flawed flint, it is often
possible to strike the stone along the flaw to
produce one or even two clear ringing pieces.
Having selected the stone you are going to
work you will need to prepare the tools
required for t,he preliminary knapping. The
most useful tools you will need are a couple of
'hard hammers' these are rounded stones
ideally of quartzite that will not shatter when
used against the flint. They should be as
heavy as can be easily managed. For most of
your needs you will get by with one hammer
169

Quartering a flint nodule with a hard hammer.

To produce the finest blades abrade the edge with a rough
stone.

Removing a blade with a soft hammer, the soft antler
billet allows more control of the work piece.

Indirect percussion allows control and economic use of
flint nodules.

about the size of a large apple and the other
the size of a lemon. With these tools you
should be able to prepare the flint for every
basic survival need. For finer work you may
prefer to use a 'soft hammer'; these are usually
made from the densest heaviest antler available to you. Also of importance at this stage is
an abrading stone. This should be of a coarse
sandstone or similar rock.
Direct percussion: The real art of flint
knapping is the ability to take a raw piece of
stone and shape it into a form suitable for the
production of specialised tools. (Within the
world of craft flint knapping there is a
growing trend to band-saw a piece of stone
into a parallel sided slab perfect for knapping
into beautiful long, thin leaf-shaped blades,
but to purists this is defeating the real art of
knapping.) Most flint as it is found naturally
is covered in a layer of white chalk-like
material referred to as cortex. The first stage
in flint working is to remove this cortex which
acts as a shock absorber to your blows. To

start you must expose the grey or black flint.
Look for a projecting lump or nodule and
strike this an angular blow with the larger
hard hammer. To hold the flint, most
knappers prefer to rest it on the knee with a
skin or bark pad for comfort and protection.
If the blow was delivered at the correct angle
the lump should have sheared off cleanly
exposing what is described as a platform. Now
using this platform as your striking point aim
your blows to direct the shock waves across
the stone to remove the cortex. At its simplest
any of the flakes which you remove in this
process should be sharp enough for most
cutting jobs.
To progress towards an axe continue in the
manner you started, trying always to produce
an almond-shaped core. Aim your blows to
remove flakes along the ridges left by two or
more previous flakes, thinning as much as
possible early on. The greatest difficulty you
will face is in the correct preparation of the
striking platform. This must be strong enough
170

luck this blow will dislodge the step and
complete the intended blade. If the step is not
removed in this way invert the core and strike
off a blade to connect with the step from the
other side.
Pressure flaking: The blades produced
can now be knapped into arrow heads,
scrapers, burins drills and small razor-like
blades for spearpoints. But for this yet another
technique must be learned, that of pressure
flaking. Here again some special tools will be
needed: a pressure flaker manufactured from
an antler tine and a small hand pad of thick
buckskin rawhide or similar leather. Pressure
flaking is a miniature version of what you
were doing in direct percussion except that
you are not striking off flakes but pushing
them off with pressure concentrated at the
point of the antler tine. Do not underestimate
just how much force is required in this
process, you will find that most of your body
strength comes to bear. Platform preparation
is just as critical for this operation as for any of
the others. Hold the blade or flake in your left
palm (assuming that you are right handed)
which is protected by the leather pad, I
usually roll the top of the pad several times to
effect a vice-like grip. Now with the antler
tine held in your right hand, apply pressure to
the edge of the flake to remove a tiny flake. If
you are carrying this operation out correctly,
you should hear and feel this flake pop off
cleanly without crumbling. Work around the
flake in this way, gradually creating the shape
that you want. The angle at which you apply
the pressure will determine the angle of edge
you eventually achieve.

to receive the full weight of your blow thus
transmitting it to the flint as intended. If the
platform is too weak it will break off causing
difficulties; if it is too strong either nothing
will happen when you strike it or the piece
will break too deeply or worse.than either,
you will impart fractures to the workpiece
which will interfere with later operations. The
diagram will show the very basics of direct
percussion. As the work becomes thinner
switch over to using a soft hammer and pay
extra careful attention to the platform preparation.
This technique is basically all that is
required to produce an axe or adze for
survival purposes. The flakes you have removed in the process are all razor sharp and
usually many can be turned into first class
arrowheads by pressure flaking (see below).
Indirect percussion: While axes and
adzes are very useful, ninety-nine per cent of
your survival tools can be produced more
economically from the flakes produced. This
was a fact our ancestors realised devising
techniques to produce suitably shaped flakes
or 'blades' for easy manufacture into other
tools. While the skilled flint worker can strike
these off by precisely placed direct blows with
a hard or soft hammer, you will find it easier
to begin with, to use indirect percussion (plus
it serves to introduce another valuable technique).
For indirect percussion you will need
another tool, an antler punch. Preferably this
should be of a straight piece of antler and
shaped with a blunt point. For blade production the core needs to be prepared in a
slightly different manner. Instead of producing an almond shape your aim is to truncate it
so that you are working more or less a
cylinder. From a flat striking platform, you
will be able to punch off blades. As always,
abrade the edge to strengthen the striking
platform and then place the punch on the
edge and strike it with a hammer or wooden
billet as shown. Be careful here as the full
energy of the blow is released in the parting of
the blade which comes off with a great deal of
force. Now simply work around the core
striking off blades as needed. If the blade does
not break off cleanly you have not prepared
the platform correctly or not followed the
blow through. Replace it in the step that is
left on the core and strike it directly vertically
with a firm blow of your soft hammer. With

Pressure flaking with an antler flaking allows the fine
working needed to produce arrowheads.

171

Left to right: a flint axe, a flint adze and a flint dagger. Hafted by carefully carving sockets for the blades and hafting with
rawhide cordage these tools are very serviceable. The dagger blade is hafted with rawhide and pine resin.
Below: a simple hand axe can be made in five minutes. This will perform at least ninety per cent of the jobs you might
otherwise use a knife for.
J
7
s

The design of tool you eventually produce
will depend upon your needs, the materials
available to you, and your level of skill, but
even a simple broken cobble will give you a
sharp cutting or scraping edge suitable for
most of your backwoods manufacturing
needs. Even if you don't have any antler
available to you there is no problem. One of
the finest flint knappers I have met works
almost exclusively with a hard hammer
producing the finest blades.

Bone and Antler
While stone produced the razor edge for the
native craftsman, it was brittle, making it
unsuitable for many tasks that today can be
172

accomplished by metals. It was bone and
antler that bridged the gap between wood
and stone. Being hard, they are capable of
taking a sharp edge yet flexible to a degree of
resilience enabling them to be used successfully for projectile points and hook barbs. It
was also from these materials that the first
needles were fashioned, revolutionalising the
fit of man's clothing particularly in the cold
northern climates where the art of backwoods
tailoring was perfected.
The great advantage of these materials was
that they could be easily carved into a variety
of tools and very often were already of a very
adaptable shape. This is a fact that was
brought home to me recently when I was
paying a visit behind the scenes of the British
Museum. Descending into the bowels of one
of the museum's store houses, I was led by the
head of the department to the dark corridors
between giant moving vaults where humidity
and temperature could be precisely controlled. Turning a large wheel, two of the
vaults parted like a scene from the Old
Testament, revealing a dimly-lit passage
walled by carefully-labelled trays. The head
removed one of the trays and brought it very
carefully to a giantish table presumably made
that way to avoid unfortunate knocks. The
tray was long and thin with a hinging lid. T
think you'll appreciate this' she said, lifting
the lid. As the lid folded back the flicker of the
fluorescent lights fell on the polystyrene
lining, and then precisely fitted into this was
simply the most beautiful example of
backwoods carving that I have ever seen: a
short atlatl carved from antler in the shape of
a mammoth, one of the targets it would have
been used against. The design had obviously
been inspired by the experience of the maker,
and despite the centuries since it was carved
the life and animation of the carving was as
fresh as ever it had been. The carving was
cleverly incorporated into the tool so that the
tail became the hook for connection with the
spear and the body of the carving acted as a
weight. There was that familiar empathy
between the carving and the antler, common
to many native carvings. The figure seemed to
be flowing from the work piece as if the
craftsman had seen its presence in the antler
and merely set it free. It seemed strange that
in this unlikely treasure house, two twentiethcentury people were marvelling over a work
of art that was probably a talking point

among the Magdellanian party of its maker,
hunting in France fourteen or more thousand
years before. It had obviously been a prized
possession which was shown by the fact that a
break had been carefully repaired. I left that
Aladdin's cave with the feeling that a
craftsman had reached out from the past and
touched me, setting a standard we can all
aspire to. This is the magic of advanced
woodcraft as your skills develop you join a
fraternity of craftmen and women that spans
the centuries.
Bone
Bone is not only available as a by-product of
your hunting efforts it is also a product of the
hunting of other predators. Bone can also
frequently be found by streams where unfortunate creatures have been trapped in boggy
ground. Add to this the bones of those animals
who have simply moved on to other hunting
grounds having lived out their allotted time
and there is a great deal of bone to be easily
found in the outdoors. If you have started to
think native and travel off trail you will
undoubtedly have come across many skeletons and kill sites. So long as the bone has not
become powdery or very brittle, all of these
sources will provide you with ideal bone for
tool making. Bone is nearer to stone than
wood in its properties; it is for the most part
more brittle than antler but will take a
sharper edge if carefully abraded. I prefer to
use bone for arrow points, knives and awls
which are all quite robustly fashioned tools.
While bone can be fashioned into good
needles I find that they are more prone to
breaking than needles made from antler. Bone
makes first-class gouge blades because of its
natural semi-circular cross section. Shoulder
blades can be easily fashioned into hide
scrapers; femur's (thigh bones) are generally
the best to use for knives, arrow heads and
chisel/gouge blades; shin bones are straight
and perfectly suited to making points barbs
and awls.
Antler
While antler can be collected by hunting, this
is not necessary since most deer species drop
their antlers each spring. A sorry time for the
stag, his crown gone, he holds his head low
with a shattered pride and skulks away to
start the process of growing another set in
time for the rutt. If you have been using
173

antler hammers for stoneworking, you will
have realised that what at first feels brittle
and quite fragile, is in fact a very strong
material indeed. In fact antlers were used as
crow-bar-style picks by early flint miners to
lever flint nodules out of solid chalk!
Antler truly lies halfway between wood and
metal it is flexible and strong and will also
take a sharp edge. Because of its flexibility
antler is in effect stronger than bone and wins
out every time in the manufacture of spear
points needles and arrow heads. But probably
its greatest advantage is that it occurs in large
pieces, and in more useful shapes than bone.
Each deer species also possesses antler of
unique qualities some are dense and hard
almost solid antler, such as reindeer while
others are more or less full of the coral like
marrow such as red deer. Each has its
advantages the less solid varieties are easier to
carve into projectile points and needles while
the solid varieties make excellent handles
hammers and wedges.
If I have a choice between making tools
suitably shaped antler and suitably shaped
bone, antler wins every time simply because
of its resilienceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;particularly for harpoon
barbs and fish hooks where some flexibility is
a strong advantage. For arrow heads I prefer
flint which is razor sharp and hard. Although
more brittle I can make two or three good
stone points in the time that it takes to make
one good bone or antler pointâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even when
using metal tools to work the bone.
For the most part the techniques used for
working bone and antler are very similar, but
because of the differing nature of the two
materials it is better to consider them separately.

carving into gorge hooks and barbs. The
advantage of this technique is that in
emergency conditions you can produce a
number of useful pieces of bone with the
absolute minimum of effort. Find a rock or
boulder suitable for use as an anvil and smash
the bone with a heavy blow from a large
hammer stone.
Sawing: Sawing is a far better way to
tackle a bone. It allows you the ultimate
control in the way you section the bone,
enabling the most efficient use of the raw
material. As a saw you can use a flint blade
with a pressure-flaked serrated edge; this is
often better than more modern saws, but is a
slow process. However it is one where you can
use the bone's brittle nature to your advantage by only sawing half way through the
bone or deep enough to sufficiently weaken it,
so that it will break along the cut when struck
lightly with a hammer stone.
Scoring: A similar technique to that
described above is scoring, and it is one
ideally suited to those cuts which are too long
for comfortable sawing. Using a stone or
prepared engraver, score a deep groove to
enable the bone to be accurately splintered.
This is how both bone and antler needles are
blanked out. It is not a quick technique but if
carefully done is both accurate and efficient.
Wedge splitting: Best used in combination with scoring, this technique involves
splitting off splinters by driving a chiselshaped wedge into the bone. I only use this
technique where I have previously cut a deep
groove, as it is difficult to predict just how the
bone will break without it.
Scraping: Once you have blanked out the
more or less suitably sized and shaped work
piece, this is the quickest way to work it down
to the tool you are aiming to produce. Any
sharp flake or blade can be usedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;simply
draw it across the bone at ninety degrees to
the work surface to scrape off fine shavings.
Abrading: This is the archetypal bone
working technique. Bone needs to always be
worked slowly and carefully to avoid any
unfortunate breakages. Abrading is the
slowest and most certain way to work down a
piece of bone. Again it is best to start with a
suitable blank, then using a sandstone block,
sand out the shape you are aiming for. This is
also the method used to put the sharpest edge
on bone blades.
Drilling: Drilling out around a predeter-

Working Bone
Bone is the least forgiving material to work
and a mistake often results in the ruining of a
workpiece and a return to the start. While it
can be softened by soaking I prefer to work it
dry, constantly reminding myself that it is a
brittle material easily shattered and fractured. Fresh 'green' bone is much less brittle
and more waxy and can sometimes be worked
like antler.
Smashing: This is a technique more or less
unique to bone working simply because it is
almost impossible to smash most antlers.
Smashing is the crude and inefficient way to
section a bone into fragments suitable for
174

mined shape is an easy way to blank out
complicated shapes. I describe this as
backwoods fret work and require only a stone
drill the same as that used for notching
arrows. Make certain that the pilot hole is
deep enough otherwise the drill will skate all
over the hard bone surface.

prepared engraving tool.
Antler has a core of very tough marrow,
which can be incorporated in the tool you are
making without causing any problems. It is in
fact much stronger than its delicate form
would suggest and largely responsible for the
difficulty with which antler can be smashed.
In short it is much easier to incorporate this in
your design than try and carve it away from
the solid part of the antler.

Working Antler
Burning: Antler is notoriously difficult to
cut, and even with modern saw blades it is not
easy. In the backwoods it requires quite
drastic handling techniques, none more so
than burning. For this you will need a
glowing fire brand or small pile of embers.
The fire brand (a glowing stick from your
fire) is best as you can more easily apply the
heat to precisely where it is required. Assuming you want to remove one of the tines,
place the glowing end of the brand against the
tine base where it meets the main stem. Now
blow on the brand to increase its heat and
there by scorch the antler. It is worth
mentioning at this point that the smell
produced is quite repugnant. As the antler
begins to scorch move the brand around the
tine so that you are beginning to weaken it all
around. Eventually you will find that a sharp
blow to the ground or several sharp blows
from a heavy stone hammer at the tine base,
will snap the tine free. If you have been able
to produce a stone adze or chisel, the process
can be speeded up by cutting away the
charred antler and repeating the process until
sufficiently weakened.
Sawing: Antler can be sawed through
although being a more waxy material than
bone, the process is much slower. I usually
reserve sawing for already formed blanks and
prepared pieces of antler that are thin enough
to make it a viable option.
Incising: This can be carried out in the
same way as for bone. However the incised
grooves must be much deeper to overcome the
flexibility of the antler. Deep-cut grooves can
be more easily broken by wedge splitting.
Abrading and scraping: Both of these
techniques can be used in the same way as for
bone working although of the two, scraping is
the most effective.
Carving: This is an option available for
bone working but far less effective than when
applied to antler. Soak the antler for a day or
two beforehand to soften it. It can then be
easily carved using a sharp flake of stone or

Bone and Antler Tools
Wherever possible, try to utilise the natural
shape of the bone or antler in your design.
Both of these materials are strongest when
strain is put on them in the directions it would
occur naturally. Both can also be hardened by
very gentle fire hardening although this is
hardly necessary and can result in unwanted
brittleness. Both can also be somewhat shaped
by heating with hot water or steam and then
bending into the desirable shape and allowing
to cool in this shape. In the arctic where wood
is in short supply, bone and antler were
frequently jointed together to form long
lengths; the joints being formed by drilling
holes and then stitching the pieces together
with wet rawhide (see Chapter Thirteen)
which would shrink slightly on drying and
become virtually rigid, locking them together.
Shells and Teeth
Teeth: Incisor teeth, particularly of beavers
and other rodents were frequently hafted to
handles for use as gouges and carving tools
although they were mainly used in the
carving
of
embellishing
decorations.
However, I once made an atlatl with the
canine tooth from a fox skull found on a hike,
and used it as the peg against which the tail
end of the spear presses. Stay alert to the
possibilities of these materials.
Shell: Shell is a very common and surprisingly useful material of the seashore; it can
be worked more or less in the same way as
slate although I have occasionally found
shells that can be crudely pressure flaked. On
several occasions I have used shell knives to
cut up fish and saw in the groove of a bowdrill
fireset, to say nothing of making arrow heads
from shell. Most people totally overlook this
extremely useful material.
The most useful shells are those of the
bivalves, particularly the larger mussel shells,
clam and scallop shells. The latter especially
175

are useful because of their saw-like wavy shell
edge. The way I usually go about working
shell is to simply snap or crumble it to a rough
shape. For this use a small pointed pebble and
a larger anvil stone. Once you have formed
the rough outline of the tool, abrade in the
fine details with a coarse abrading stone. To
obtain a really sharp edge it is best to use finer
abraders, but do not over-thin as the edge of
the shell is always very brittle. If you spend
time beachcombing you are almost certain to
turn up one or two really thick-walled shells.
These might even be strong enough to be
formed into chisel or adze blades.
Bivalve shells have also been used for
making spoons and ladles, the mussel shell in
particular is perfectly shaped for the job. All
that needs be done is to haft the shell onto a
handle of driftwood. It can help here to drill a
couple of holes near the edge of the shell to
help attach the handle. Larger bivalves can
also be used for transporting fire by placing a
glowing coal inside the two cases with some
finely teased tinder such as cedar bark to keep
the coal smouldering. This can then be loosely
wrapped and carried to wherever the next fire
is needed. In cold weather this method makes
a first-class hand warmer.

relative thing for the backwoodsman.
Whether a job takes him a day or a month is
for the most part irrelevant. After all, as one
old forester said to me: 'I've a whole lifetime
to fill . . .' So perhaps the advantage of the
tools is that they make the work easier. Yet
early man seemed to have no difficulty
producing works of art which better any I
have seen produced by modern backwoods
craftsmen working with metal. In fact in some
instances the primitive tools are better suited
to a task than modern tools . . .
No, the real advantage of metal tools is that
more economic use can be made of resources.
With a sharp axe or knife I can coppice
saplings with absolute certainty so that they
are not killed but grow back to offer me more
resources. I can then take the sapling which I
cut and split it with far more precision than
ever I could with primitive tools. Only
recently I split a three-inch ash sapling into
two quarter and four eighth segments, enabling me to make from one sapling two bows
and a pair of snow shoes. This is where metal
wins out. When carefully used, it enables us to
make the full use of the materials at our
disposal. If only everyone who carries an axe
or knife in the outdoors were to realise this, we
would see far fewer unnecessarily scarred trees
on the trail. A knife is a toolâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not a macho
symbol of manhood. In an ideal world no one
would carry a metal knife until they had first
learned to improvise a similar tool from the
wilderness. This is the best way to appreciate
the true value of such a tool.

In General
The tools described in this chapter are greatly
underrated by most outdoors folk raised in an
age of metal. The sad part of the way we use
metal knives and axes is that we have lost
sight of the real advantage of such tools. It is
not that they are quickerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;for time is a

176

Hideworking
'The owner of a neighbouring tent had killed a large elk, the
skin of which the women were then busily employed in
dressing. They had stretched it out, by means of leather
straps, on the ground near the tent, and the women were
scraping off the particles of flesh and fat with a very
well-contrived instrument. It is made of bone, sharpened at
one end, and furnished with little teeth like a saw, and, at
the other end, a strap, which is fastened round the wrist. The
skin is scraped with this instrument till it is perfectly clean.'
(Prince Maximilian zu Wied 1933)

Rawhide and buckskin. The very words
conjure romantic visions of the pioneers and
Indians of the American western frontiers,
and rightly so, for while western clothing
predominated in the established cities and
settlements, those folk who ventured into the
mountains and the wild unsettled interior
relied heavily upon the native garb. Not only
were skin clothes cheaper and more readily
available in the bush, they were more hard
wearing and better suited to the environment,
providing protection from thorns and
abrasive rock and allowing a unique freedom
of movement and quietness in close cover.
The only western cloth to be readily
accepted in the bush was the wool blanket,
which provided warmth even in wet weather.
Blankets became one of the major trade items.
Lighter than heavy fur robes, they could be
easily fashioned into leggings, mocassin liners
and most popular of all, long hooded coats
called 'capotes'. So popular were these wool
blankets that they were completely absorbed
into the culture of the native peoples. Even
today the phrase, 'To pick up the blanket,'

refers to a native who has returned to the
traditional ways of his people. So let us pick
up the blanket and learn the way to make
clothing of hides as our ancestors once did.
Backwoodsmen the world over revel in
controversial fireside debate about bushcraft
techniques; and no topic is more certain to
spark a heated discussion than hideworking. I
have heard many good woodsmen staunchly
advocating the merits of their favourite
tanning agent which may range from battery
acid to the egg white from a duck's egg mixed
with cornmeal and powdered oak bark. The
possibilities seem endless, for in truth there
are as many ways to tan a hide as there are
ways to skin an animal, and probably more. I
have decided to confine myself to the simplest
native processes which can be carried out in
the backcountry. Because these techniques
are fundamental in their nature, there is no
reason why they cannot be applied to almost
any hide.
Obtaining Hides
Any talk of using animal skins is apt to raise
177

vehement opposition to animal's 'exploitation' for clothingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;particularly for luxury
items which have in many cases led to the
virtual hunting to extinction of brother
creatures. Make no mistake I would always
prefer to see the skin worn by its natural
owner, but at the same time I do not believe
in wasting any life. Every year many deer are
culled under controlled conditions to maintain the natural balance which has been upset
by destruction of habitat and removal of
predators. While the meat and antlers of these
animals have a use, the skins have virtually no
commercial value and are simply thrown
away as waste.
Very often the estate manager responsible
for the seasonal culls will be very helpful in
providing you with the occasional skin to
work, he also would rather see the skin put to
a constructive use. Be aware that as an
experienced countryman, he will have much
to teach those with open ears about deer, for
his life revolves around them; his wealth of
deer lore is unmatchable.
Of course in real backcountry survival
situations where you are hunting for food,
skins will be a natural by-product of your food
gathering. As always, it is the woodsman's
respect for nature that dictates that nothing
be wasted and the skin be put to full use.
Hide Working
I am firmly convinced that hideworking is
one of the most valuable woodcraft techniques to learn; it teaches patience and unstinting effort. Once you have completely tanned
a hide to buckskin you will always think twice
about discarding even the smallest scrap of
leather as waste, remembering the long
strenuous labour involved in its preparation.
As I sit here I have around me various articles
of clothing, tools and pouches made of or
incorporating buckskin or rawhide. Each
contains memories of people, places and days
spent in cool breeze or sunshine as I worked
my own energies into the hide, so that the end
product is a symbiosis of the deer's growth
and my labours.
Whatever the end process, the most important first step in hide working is the
skinning. Here you must take absolute care to
avoid cutting or scoring the hide with a
careless slip of a knife. As mentioned earlier, I
only use a cutting tool to open the hide,
preferring to use my hands and fist to separate

Defleshing a hide is a laborious and unpleasant task. On
your own it is best carried out over a log.

the skin with plenty of elbow grease. Try to
leave as much fat as possible on the flesh
rather than on the skin. This may require the
judicious use of a blade to sever connective
tissues. If you intend to make a long length of
cordage you may consider removing the neck
skin as a tube which can then be cut round in
a long spiral of the desired width.
With the skin removed you must decide
whether you intend to leave the fur on or not.
For most purposes you will need to remove
the hair, but if you decide that a fur is needed
for winter insulation follow the procedure for
hide preparation with the fur on.
Fleshing: This is where the hide working
really begins in earnest, and there is no stage
in the process which is more important. The
fresh hide referred to as a 'green hide' in the
U.S. or as a hide, 'in the blue' in the U.K. is
taken and carefully scraped to remove all
traces of fat or flesh which are adhering to its
178

Unpleasant work such as defleshing is always easier when there are two of you.
Once defleshed the hide should be dehaired. Several days' soaking in a weak lye solution and lots of elbow grease are the
order of the day.

179

using the scraping tool push off the hair, being
careful to avoid breaking the hairs if they will
not pull out. Even the best soaked hides will
provide areas where the hair is hardest to
remove. These occur along the top of the neck
and around the legs, particularly the
underbelly side. At these places you will have
to resort to pulling these hairs out in small
clumps manually. This is a slow and tiring
process, though far less unpleasant than the
de-fleshing. The hair you remove should of
course be dried and saved for uses such as
forming insulative liners for winter mocassins.
With both de-fleshing and de-hairing, it is
good practise to work the hide over a period
of several days, returning it to soak each day
so that the labour is more evenly distributed;
like running long distance it is far better to
pace yourself.
Racking or pegging: To dry the hide it
should be stretched out tightly. This can be
done either by pegging it out on some dry
sun-drenched ground, or better still by
racking it up in a frame with lacing cut from
around the edge of the hide. Pegging out is a
technique useful in areas where materials for
racking are scarce or for use with extra large
hides. It was a technique commonly employed by the plains nations for drying buffalo
skins. The pegs need to be strong and securely
hammered into the ground as the skin will
shrink as it dries. Cut the holes for the pegs
about two centimetres from the edge of the
skin and parallel to the edge. The pegs should
be placed about a spread hand's breadth
apart, and the skin should be evenly tensioned
throughout. If possible raise the skin on the
pegs so that it is about five centimetres off the
ground at the edges. This will allow a draught
of air to pass under it, speeding up the drying
process.
Racking is my preferred way to deal with a
hide. Its advantage is that the hide can be
suspended out of the way of animals and in
shade, or under the rain-proof lee of an arbor.
Also, because the hide is held upright, the
work becomes less of a back strain. The rack
can either be formed with one or two growing
saplings as the uprights, or by lashing
together a free-standing rigid frame. I have
used both and come to the conclusion that
there is little to choose between the two. The
frame incorporating living saplings is the
more rigid of the two and enables more
pressure to be applied to the skin as you work

fles,h side. This process is long and laborious. I
find that the best way to achieve this is to
wrap the hide over a small smooth log so that
the skin can be pulled taut and secure,
allowing you to push off the flesh with a
scraping tool such as the back of an old file or
a deer's leg bone split off down one side to
provide a scraping edge. I leave the hair on
for this part of the process as it acts as a buffer
between the log and the skin thus preventing
tears from occurring. This is a particularly
unpleasant operation and a useful piece of
additional equipment is a clothes peg to
prevent the smell reaching your nostrils!
Without any doubt at all, de-fleshing is the
smelliest most disgusting and obnoxious activity in the field of woodcraft.
If you are unable to work the hide
immediately, soak the hide until you are able
to flesh it. This makes the whole process even
more disgusting. Do not leave the hide
soaking for more than a couple of days before
you de-flesh it though. I was once unable to
work some hides for five or six days by which
time they smelled mighty high, having begun
to decay. From the hides I developed an
infection in a small cut on one of my fingers.
This infection caused the finger to balloon to
alarming proportions and drained me of my
energy, despite the advanced medication of
the twentieth century; in the backcountry
such an infection could well have had far
more serious implications. Despite the poor
state of the hides things turned out fine.
With the flesh removed the hide can be
dried on a rack for storing or returned to soak
to loosen the hairs. If you have not completely
de-fleshed the hide as it dries you will see
translucent areas where the fat has penetrated
the skin. These will cause problematical stiff
regions for softening the buckskin.
When soaking a hide either for fat or hair
removal, it helps enormously to use a lye
solution. This can be achieved in one of two
waysâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;either by boiling down a concentrated
lye solution from hard wood ashes, and then
adding this to your soaking solution, or more
easily by wrapping the hard wood ashes into
the hide before soaking. This is the best
method to use if you are soaking the hide by
weighting it down in a stream.
De-hairing: Most deer hides will require
two to four days of soaking before the hair will
begin to slip off easily. Once the hair does slip
freely, return the skin to the fleshing log, and
180

scraping and peeling it off the dry racked
rawhide. This will ensure that the buckskin
has its usual suede-like finish on both sides.

it on the rackâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;while the free-standing rack is
mobile and can be placed at any convenient
angle or positioned in or out of shade, but is
much more prone to lose its shape and contort
unless very securely lashed. If you are brain
tanning with the fur on though, the freestanding frame has the definite advantage of
being able to be tilted to the horizontal when
applying the brains solution.
The rack should be larger than the hide by
several hand spans so that allowance is made
for the skin which will stretch when tensioned
in the frame. Cut the lace holes in the hide the
same way as described for pegging out, and
lace the skin to the frame. If you are using
lacing produced from the skin, a length
produced from cutting around the complete
edge of the hide three times should suffice.
Make this strip a centimetre wide and cut it
before making the lace holes. The simplest
way to lace the skin to the frame is to tie one
end to the frame and then to pass the lace
through a lace hole and around the frame and
so on until the hole is laced up. It can then be
tensioned by simply adjusting the tension of
the laces. If you are producing buckskin
however, you will need to remove the skin
from the rack at least once, which may lead
you to favour either tying individual laces to
each lace hole, or as I do, lace the hide around
its edge and then using individual laces tied to
the frame tie the edge lacing into the frame.
Both of these latter techniques require considerably more cordage.
Once the skin is racked you can leave it to
dry, although it is a good idea to check to see
that you have not missed any areas of fat or
hair. In general a periodic scraping during
the drying period does seem to help produce a
well softened hide. When the hide is fully dry
you will find it has stiffened and shrunk,
tightening the laces. It should be a creamy
colour, although the colour may range from
dark brown to a translucent buff colour. This
is rawhide, one of the finest backwoods
materials and so long as it is kept dry and
insect free will store indefinitely (see uses of
rawhide below).
Rawhide is the halfway house to buckskin,
which is convenient as you can store skins as
rawhide ready for turning into buckskin at
some later date. You should find that the
epidermis or scarf skin, the thin outer layer of
skin on the hair side has been removed in the
de-hairing process. If not remove this by

Making Buckskin
It is said that the best hide for making
buckskin is the summer skin of a wild doe.
Legend has it that this skin is lighter and
stronger than others. I cannot confirm this
with any certainty for the strongest hides I
have ever worked belonged to bucks at
ruttâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as well my aching fingers testified for
many days after. But there may be some truth
in this old nugget of woodlore for summer
skins have less fat on them and are therefore
easier to de-flesh which, it is possible, means
that more effort can be spent of producing
fine soft buckskin. Whatever the answer, the
secret to making really fine buckskin is
starting with really well cleaned rawhide.
Rawhide is a useful material and comes in
many forms. In Iceland the Sagas were
transcribed onto parchment which was, in
reality rawhide from sheep skins scraped
really thin. I once experimented making some
parchment from a carefully prepared yearling
roe deer skin; it was so fine that it could even
be torn like paper. The transformation of
rawhide into buckskin is a change in many
ways as miraculous as changing paper into
chamois leather.
Soaking and stretching: Before you can
proceed to making buckskin the hide must be
re-soaked and softened by stretching and
general manipulation. Unless you are leaving
the hair on the hide this is best done off the
rack. Do not be tempted to rush on to the next
stage. The better soaked the hide the more
efficiently the brains solution will penetrate
the skin. Remember that every minute or
hour spent manipulating and softening a hide
counts towards the finished product.
Braining: For the tanning agent you will
need either the brains of the animal that
provided the skin or a similarly-sized brain.
This should be simmered in a pan with just
enough water to cover it. If you cannot find a
brain of the right size, bulk can be made up
with a finely chopped up liver. Mash this
mixture until it is liquid. It will produce a
sweet smelling creamy mixture. This should
now be worked well into the skin side of the
hide which will change consistency becoming
similar to wet pasta. To test whether or not it
is thoroughly soaked with the brains, try
181

blowing through the hide. If your breath
passes through easily the process is complete.
Alternatively cup some of the liquid in a fold
of the skin and squeeze it. If the liquid passes
easily through, it is ready. Repeat this process
several times in different areas of the hide—
particularly the thicker neck and shoulder
regions. Once thoroughly soaked, you can
proceed to the next step although I usually
leave the skin in a container with water and
the brains mixture to soak overnight. Wring
the hide out thoroughly—the traditional way
being to twist the hide tightly around a
standing sapling. Re-soak the hide in water
and wring it out again. Now re-rack the hide.
Scraping and staking: As the hide begins
to dry, scrape it to an even thickness using a
knife or stone scraper held at ninety degrees.
The most important area to concentrate on is
the neck. The very finest buckskin is of a
uniform thickness throughout; this is very
important if you are making clothing. For
mocassins it is a good idea to leave the skin as
thick as possible, where the soles will be cut
out. Be very careful not to cut or score the
hide. If there are any holes or cuts in the hide
now is the moment to sew them up preferably
with sinew.

for the colour of the finished leather and most
importantly of all seems to strengthen the
hide and protect it from stiffening after a
soaking. To smoke the hide, light a small fire
having nearby some dry wood chips—
preferably from a hard non-resinous wood
such as oak or ash. While the fire is burning to
embers, sew up the hide into a long cone with
the hair side inward. Once this is done put out
the flames and add the wood chips so that
they smoulder to produce smoke but no
flames. Now suspend the hide over the
smouldering fire so that the smoke is trapped
inside it. If you are smoking more than one
hide a more elaborate arrangement would be
that described earlier for a smoke house.
Make absolutely certain that the wood does
not catch fire. The longer you smoke the skin
the darker colour it will take on, from cream
to a yellow or beige colour. Check the hide
periodically to see how the colouration is
progressing. Once it has reached the stage you
desire, take it down and leave it wrapped up
to cure for a few hours. Writh the advantage of
the modern age I usually roll it up with plenty
of smoke still in it and then put it into a
smoke-filled plastic bag and leave it overnight. Some people prefer to smoke the hide
on both sides. If so repeat the process with the
flesh side innermost to the cone.

Staking is the process of stretching and
pulling the hide during drying to soften the
skin so that it does not dry stiff. For this you
will need a wooden graining stick. This
should be about three feet long and have a
wide flat or round point which must be
carved and sanded smooth. A traditional tool
for this job is the handle end of a canoe
paddle. I actually prefer a slightly shorter
graining stick of about eighteen inches; it
encourages me to use more arm strength and
less body weight which helps me to feel just
what is happening inside the skin, so reducing
the chances of wearing a hole in the skin.
With this stick push the hide firmly all over as
it dries. Do not let the skin dry too fast or your
stretching will be in vain. This is a long slow
task but absolutely necessary. If the weather is
fine and you are working in the dappled
shade of a forest this is a most satisfying
woodcraft chore. Continue staking until the
hide is completely dry. You now have a
beautiful white suede-like leather with a
detectable toughness, but you are not quite
finished.
Smoking: Smoking is the last essential
stage in producing buckskin. It is responsible

Buffing: The very finest buckskin has a soft
nap to ks surface. This is produced by buffing
the hide either with a coarse abrasive stone or
by running it backwards and forwards
around a post. Either way, the aim is to brush
up a suede-like surface. You can always tell
brain-tanned buckskin from commerciallyproduced equivalents by blowing through it.
With traditional buckskin your breath passes
easily through it, while with commercial
buckskin you almost burst a blood vessel
trying.
Preparing Hides with the Hair Left On
Not all hides lend themselves well to tanning
with the hair on: deer species for instance tend
to have hairs that continually shed or break
off-—most notably the stiffer winter hairs—
which is inconvenient. There is little that can
be done to alleviate this problem. However
hides with softer hairs such as foxes, coyotes,
buffalo, bears and rabbits to mention a few,
do not shed hairs. Some of the smaller species,
especially the mustelidids such as weasel and
mink, have a rank odour, and the only way to
182

alleviate this problem in the backcountry is to
soak the hide in a lye solution. But the
preparation must begin always before the fur
begins to slip.
The method of preparation is essentially
the same as for other hides except that
de-fleshing should be carried out very
carefully working mainly from tail to head.
Once the hide is dry (including the fur) it
should be possible to gauge whether or not the
hair is going to stay on or not. If it looks as
though it is going to shed at every opportunity, return it to the soak and de-hair it.
Those furs which promise to retain a healthyshow of hair can now be brain tanned. Do not
remove the fur from the rack but instead tilt
the rack to the horizontal; this is where the
free-standing rack is a boon. Soak the hide
and apply the brains mixture, working it well
in. Now leave the hide to soak up the brains
mixture. I find that when using this method it
helps to prepare the brains solution to a more
viscous consistency so that it adheres to the
hide surface evenly and doesn't run into a well
in the centre. When the hide has had the
chance to absorb the mixture for several hours
(or overnight) rinse off the solution and leave
to drain for some minutes before beginning
the staking process. Most of the hides you will
tan by this method are likely to be small
mammals which will demand more care and
less force at this stage. Smoking is carried out
essentially from the flesh side and will require
longer than usual although if you wish you
can also smoke the fur side.

bindings. These are produced by cutting a
piece of rawhide in a spiral fashion (in most
cases the rawhide will need to be softened in
water before it can be easily cut). These
rawhide laces can be used as they are without
any further treatment, or by having fat or oil
worked into them. Untreated, the laces can
be used for lashings. Applied wet they will dry
shrinking in the process and if correctly
applied, binding tight. With oil worked into
them they are called whangs; the oil keeps
them flexible preventing them from hardening. Both of these forms are extremely hard
wearing and make excellent cordage for the
bow drill firelighter. I have a rawhide cord on
the bowdrill set I use for demonstrations
which is made of tough neck rawhide
stretched while wet and laid up into a
two-strand cord. It has been used regularly
now for three winters and still shows no sign of
wearing out; even the best modern fibre
cordage for the taskâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;outboard motor pull
cordâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;never lasted a season let alone three. I
use the same technique to manufacture bow
strings from rawhide, using a section of hide of
a very uniform thickness cut into a long strip
about 5mm wide. This is twisted to make it
more or less round in cross section before
being folded in half and laid up into a
two-strand cord with the fold left to form an
eye in one end for a noose. This string is best
greased to help prevent it loosening in damp
weather, although in rain there is little that
can be done to prevent this.
Because of its toughness rawhide was also
used for the soles of moccasins used in dry
rocky regions. In some cases such as the
Navaho moccasin, the rawhide sole was
pre-shaped around a wooden former. Water
containers were also made from clean
rawhide which was gathered into a bottle
shape around a filling of sand. When dry the
sand was emptied out at the neck and a
hollow piece of wood was bound tightly into it
and a wooden bung fitted to this.
Rawhide can also be used to cook in. Either
it is used to line a pit, or it is suspended under
a four-pole tripod-style frame where once
water is added, it takes on a cauldron shape.
This arrangement can then be used for rock
boiling. In real emergencies rangers, mountain men and Indians have all been known to
have cooked and eaten their rawhide
clothing, usually in the form of a stew or a
soup.

There are many other ways to tan hides
which you may wish to experiment with, but
the above is the basic backwood's technique. I
should point out however that the way you
work the hides must be in sympathy with the
hide, that is to say you should adapt the
technique to the hide's particular needs. I
very rarely work a hide in exactly the same
way twice because each hide has its own
characteristics depending upon species,
season, and the animal's physical condition.

Rawhide
Without a doubt rawhide is the most useful
form a hide can be worked to. When damp it
becomes soft and pliable but dries hard and
stiff shrinking some in the process. Its major
use is in the making of rawhide lacings and
183

Rawhide was also the native's choice of
material for manufacturing shields; none were
better made than those of the plains tribes.
Using the skin from the hump or chest of a
buffalo because of its exceptional thickness,
the shield was formed by steaming and
shrinking the hide till it was much thickerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
sometimes more than a centimetre thick. At
this stage it was also shaped either concave or
convex. A good shield would deflect an arrow
and some it is claimed could even deflect a
musket ball, although as much store was
placed in the designs and decorations which
were the product of a warrior's personal
vision, and imbued the shield with supernatural abilities to protect its carrier.
Because of its ability to shrink and tighten
when dry, rawhide is the natural choice for
the manufacture of drum skins. Applied wet
to a hoop or hollowed log, and laced tight, the
drum heads shrink on to give a fine tone
which varies according to the humidity, as
though it has a mind of its own.
Parfleche containers, drums and other
rawhide objects were frequently painted using
natural pigments from various plants, berries,
clays, rocks and charcoal. The rawhide
should be painted while still damp so that the
colours are literally rubbed into the hide
instead of just sitting on the surface. The
traditional brush for this job was formed from
the marrow part of a bone or antler which
would absorb the paint while giving enough
rigidity to allow it to be worked well in.
Buckskin
Buckskin is a very different material to
rawhide; it is soft and better able to resist the
wet weather which reduces rawhide to its raw
and smelly state. Because of this, buckskin is
the traditional choice for clothing, robes and
pouches. The most important aspect to
recognise when working with buckskin is that
it will stretch with use according to which
part of the hide it was cut from. In general, a
buckskin hide prefers to stretch across its
width rather than its length. To minimise
problems with uneven stretching, always try
to use the skin in a similar way to that in
which it originally fitted the animal.
Moccasins are the classic use for buckskin; a
travelling warrior or scout would carry two
pairs. They are light and no modern
equivalent is as quiet when stalking. When
they become damp however, they soften,

hence the reason for carrying several pairs.
Winter moccasins were fashioned from
heavily smoked hides which were more
resistant to moisture. On the plains these were
obtained from the blackened top hides of an
old tepee cover. If you are confronted with
very damp ground it may be better to travel
barefoot and keep the mocs dry. This is not as
alarming as it may sound for if you have been
wearing real moccasins for any length of time
your feet will be well seasoned. The term
tenderfoot was no fanciful backwoods joke;
newcomers to moccasins had quite literally
tender feet. The moccasin's greatest advantage for stalking is that you can feel EVERY
twig or stone, so that you soon learn to place
your feet more carefully rather than relying
upon the protection of a strong shoe. When a
buckskin moccasin dries it tends to stiffen
slightly; if the skin has been properly smoked
the moc can be easily worked supple again
before use, although most were simply softened by walking in them.
Buckskin shirts and jackets are the classic
mountain-man garments, but in truth do not
deserve the priority they receive. Leggings to
protect from thorns and scrub are far more
essential. For the most part native peoples
seem to have been better adapted to their
environment, wearing only their skin in
conditions that would to you or I require
several layers of insulation. When the early
explorers first ventured to Tierra del Fuego
they were astonished at how the natives went
about virtually naked in snow. But this is not
all that remarkable. I know several Dartmoor
farmers who will happily roam the moor in an
open-necked cotton shirt, corduroy trousers
and an old overcoat even in the coldest
weather when hikers and backpackers are
reaching for duvets and fibre pile. It seems to
be a matter of acclimatisation. Several years
ago I took to sleeping with all the windows
open and a minimum of insulation to try and
acclimatise myself better to cold. At first this
was a hardship but as the weeks faded into
months it became the norm. Eventually I was
able to sleep quite comfortably without a
sleeping bag or insulating shelter so long as I
had a correctly constructed bed or sleeping
mat and a loose covering of leaves or a
cagoule (more for cosiness than warmth). But
after working in an overheated building for a
few weeks I was back to square one. I cannot
claim that my test was scientifically conclu-

Buckskin is a fine, comfortable and very tough material which makes good clothing. Pattern for making simple moccasins
and mukluks.

use of the hide's natural shape. This can be
either carefully sewn up or more easily laced
together.
Making Clothing from Skin
Whatever the garment you are intending to
make, do not rush the construction. Because
the clothing is made from skins does not mean
that you can use any less skill than if you were
using modern materials. Take especial care
with the fitting; it helps if you can think three
dimensionally. Probably the hardest item to
make is a moccasin, Depending upon the
design, many of the native designs can only be
fashioned from brain-tanned buckskin which
is exceptionally soft and flexible. As a
teenager my first attempt at making a
moccasin ended disastrously with a crudelyshaped moccasin that would easily have fitted
my foot even if it had been in a plaster cast.
Fitting is essential, as is carefully working
through each stage and remembering to allow
for the skin stretching with use. New moccasins were often worn initially wet and walked
in until dry. In this way they took on the
shape of the wearer's foot. The great thing
about buckskin is that it will take on the shape

sive but I am convinced that acclimatisation
is possible, especially when coupled with the
correct mental approach. It seems to be the
case now that I can acclimatise more quickly
than previously, although you cannot beat
the comfort of warm clothing.
In cold climates the clothing you fashion
will need to be far better tailored than would
otherwise be the case. The best example of
this are the stylish anoraks skilfully stitched
together by the arctic communities, which
show an innate understanding of how best to
use the qualities of the buckskin. If you are
contemplating fashioning any winter clothing
for the outdoors, whether of buckskin or
modern materials, it would be well to visit
your local anthropological museum to see
how the arctic tailors went about it. It's a pity
that more attention is not paid to their skill
and knowledge by modern clothing designers
who seem to place fashion above practicality
in their 'creations'. The arctic folk managed
to combine both!
The simplest shirt that you can make is that
commonly used by the plains tribes of North
America, which makes simple and effective
185

of the limb or wearer, thereby giving exceptional comfort. Never make jackets or leggings too tight; for comfort they should be
quite baggy.
Sinew
Good, strong and fine cordage as has been
mentioned earlier, is difficult to come by in
the backcountry. Strongest of all the natural
fibres available to you are the tendon sinews
of the game you are hunting and trapping.
These can be found either side of the spine
and along side the bones of the limbs. If you
pinch the back of your ankle just above your
heel you will find the tendons in your own
legs. Aborigines remove the sinews from game
by breaking the joint of the foot and severing
the skin around it so that it hangs loose. Then
using the foot as a handle, they pull the sinews
out with a strong sharp tug; it helps if the leg
has been severed above the knee. I usually
carefully remove the sinews by cutting them
free before I butcher the game, clean all of the
flesh off them and then hang them up to dry.
Once dry they can be prepared for use. Using
a boulder as an anvil, and a hefty wooden

How to make buckskin leggings from two deer skins-

mallet, pound the dried fibres. Some say that
the sinew should be scraped off the outer
covering before pounding, but this is
unnecessary as the outer sheath is separated
in the pounding. As the sinew flattens it will
begin to break into fine fibres which can then
be pulled apart. This shredding should be
continued until you have fibres of the size you
require.
For strong cordage the sinew fibres should
be laid together in the same way as plant
fibres. For sewing, the fibres can he used as
they are with a bone needle or awl; few
Native Americans travelled without a bundle
of sinew and an awl for clothing repairs.
Before using sinew it can be softened in the
mouth or in water. Used for lashing on arrow
heads, no elaborate knots are required; the
sinew lashing is started with a simple half
hitch and the ends tucked in. This dries
securely because the sinew contains its own
natural glue.
Sinew was also used for backing bows, by
gluing it on to the bow back in strips with
hide glue. Taking several weeks to dry, the

How to make a buckskin shirt from two deer hides.

186

sinew gradually tightens and shrinks, pulling
the bow into a reflexed shape. These bows are
stronger and have a greater cast, size for size,
than other primitive bows.
In most situations of long-term bush living,
hide and sinew are vitally important resources. Even the internal organs can be used for
cordage and containers. Intestines can be
cleaned of their contents and washed to be
either stretched and dried for strong cordage
or used as a container for pemmican rather
like a sausage. The bladder can be used as a
pouch for tinder or other small items. The
stomach lining can be used for a cooking pot
(as described for the skin) or as a water
carrier. The list is almost endless. In fact the
plains tribes who hunted the vast herds of
bison secured nearly all of their everyday
needs from this one animal alone, including
their tepee covers. It's hardly any wonder
that they had such a great reverence for living
things.

survivor to come across. It can be used prettymuch in the same way as bone or antler, and
because of its convenient shape and size can
be fashioned into cups and containers. Some
of the nomadic tribes used a horn to carry fire.
To do this a horn was lined with fibrous bark,
teased as for a tinder bundle, and a coal was
added with a wooden plug fitted to the open
end. With little air for combustion, the coal
would smoulder slowly, allowing the horn to
be carried in much the same way as a powder
horn slung over a shoulder on a cord.
Dew claws were sometimes used to fashion
into arrow heads or rattles, though the main
use for hoofs and dew claws is in the
manufacture of hide glue, a smelly and time
consuming process. Hide scrapings, odd ends
of hide, hoofs, claws and bone scrapings,
should be cut up or better still crushed with a
heavy stone and then boiled down in water.
This process can take several days depending
upon the quantity of glue you are intending to
produce. The best way is simpiy to suspend
the kettle over your fire whenever it is in use
and allow the mixture to boil down over

Horn and Hoof
Horn is a less common material for the
Simple survival mocassins and ditty bag of buckskin.

187

Removing sinews from a deer's foot. Never waste any part of the animal you have hunted.
Fully prepared sinew left, pounded sinews middle, dried fresh sinew right.

Pound sinews against a hard anvil until the individual fibres begin to separate.
Shred the sinews by pulling apart or with a bone-comb- like shredding tool.

vtmmtmmasmm

j

several days to a glutinous mass. It will almost
certainly need filtering before it reaches this
state. For a filter use a bundle of grass. In this
state it can be either diluted slightly with
warm water for use or dried for future use.
Every arrow quiver should contain a glue
stick for minor fletching repairs. This is
simply a small hard wood stick onto which

hide glue is built up into a small mass.
Whenever a flight needs re-fixing this stick
can be moistened with luke warm water and
used as a crude glue brush. Hide glue is not
waterproof but is very strong. If you have the
materials and time it is well worth the effort of
making as a little will go a long way.

190

Hitting the Trail
'The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away
from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for
growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans
too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence.
(From Land of The Spotted Eagle by Chief Luther Standing
Bear (Sioux)

Any foray into the wild parts of the world will
require navigational ability. Using a map and
compass is one of the first skills you should
learn, but I have left the teaching of this to the
excellent books already written on the subject
which are listed in the bibliography. You will
probably find as I have, that the confidence
you gain from the above skills enables you to
relax with your navigation in wild country
giving you time to rely more on understanding the lie of the land, the directions in which
mountain ranges stretch and which wayrivers flow, than upon following an unswerving course from your map. This does not
mean you need not navigate, but simply that
you have lost the fear of becoming lost. The
old Indian reply when asked 'Have you ever
been lost?' is 'No, but I was once a might
confused for three or four days.' When you
truly begin to think like this I reckon you are
coming close to mastering the art of
woodcraft.
A good woodsman should be able to
navigate to pin-point accuracy if he is given a
detailed survey map and compass. Assuming
that you are already familiar with the
workings of a compass, there are a few
advanced techniques which will enhance your

navigational ability, particularly in forests
where the trails are unsurveyed. Even in the
densest forests where there are no recorded or
official tracks there are trails, made by the
local animal population or natives. Rather
than trying to cut a direct trail on a compass
bearing it is far easier to follow the trail which
most nearly leads in the direction you wish to
travel. Then, by counting paces and taking
the bearing from corner to corner, you will be
able to plot the course of the trail you are
following onto your map. At trail junctions,
again take the path that seems to lead in the
right direction. If you are able to take a
resection at any time, do so to re-zero your
plotted course. In this way you will produce a
detailed map of the local trails and should you
need to, will be able to retrace your steps with
ease. With your pace counting take the
average stride of several members; counting
this will help to reduce errors occurring
because of varying stride lengths. You should
experiment with how many paces it takes
your party to travel 100 metres on the flat,
travelling uphill and travelling downhill
when you have suitable terrain.
Using this plotting technique, you may find
that your trail skirts your objective but never
191

actually reaches it. In this case you may have
to cut a trail or better still simply ease through
the undergrowth on a direct bearing. For the
sake of accuracy it is best to use two peeled
saplings as surveying poles to enable you to
maintain a direct course.
When faced with lakes and marshy ground
it is usually easier to box around them using a
paced-out right-angle box, although some
lakes and rivers can be negotiated by building
a boat or raft.

travelling as a party this overview should be
explained to all the members, so that each can
enjoy the journey. All too often parties in the
hills follow the leader blindly without any
idea where they are going or how long it will
take. Try to adopt the habit of picturing the
way the valleys relate to each other and which
way the obvious lines of communication lead;
usually you will find they follow geographical
features such as rivers or hills. Try this in your
own home territory; even in urban areas you
will find that the same skills can be applied.
In those situations where you are without a
map or compass, your navigational abilities
will be greatly increased if you have even the
vaguest idea of the local topography. If not,
you have one of two options to follow. Either
you can follow a geographical feature in the
hope that it will eventually lead to civilisation
(rivers are a particularly reliable guide if
followed down stream, although in high
country you must always be aware of the
danger of cliffs and waterfalls) or you can
choose the compass direction which is most
likeky to lead to civilisation and follow it
rigidly. When you are tired you will find that
you are biased to walk more to the left or the
rightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;particularly if injured or carrying a
loadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and for this reason you must check
your bearings every few hours to prevent
yourself walking around in circles. If the
visibility is poor, you may have to check these
bearings more frequently. The danger of these
circumstances should never be underestimated; there are still areas remote enough to
keep you lost just long enough to kill you
through starvation or exposure. It maybe that
you have to decide whether to keep going or
stop every day long enough to trap or catch
food; my rule here is that you should keep
your belly full as it will keep your morale
intact.
The first emergency navigational technique of use (and the method most often
'overlooked'), is to use high ground to scout
ahead, or even to climb a tree to look out over
dense forestry. In most situations you can see
far more of the terrain than you would
imagine possible, particularly at night when
the lights of a distant town or settlement will
show clearly. By lining these up with two
straight sticks set into the ground you will be
able to relocate the settlement in daylight and
take a bearing or plot a course using the
topographical information you can see.

Navigating without Map or
Compass
Today, even though for the most part we are
spoiled with the availability of highly-detailed
survey maps, there remain remote parts of the
world where even if they have been surveyed,
detailed maps are next to impossible to
obtain. In these situations you may at best
hope to use a tourist map, or a hastily
sketched map from information gleaned from
locals. Either way, this sort of travel can be far
more interesting and challenging than when
your course is waymarked or plotted. While
you may travel further than expected, you
will make up for this in the sense of
achievement and remoteness. One of the
commonest observations that I make on the
trail is that many people are 'compass crazy'
spending more time looking at their map than
at the land they are passing through, hills
becoming points of bearing rather than the
new horizon that perhaps prompted the
journey. If you are on foot and do not mind
walking, for the most part your map can
remain in your rucksack needed only in poor
visibility, bad weather or where there may be
cliffs and other obstacles to negotiate.
Before you travel you should have read the
map to gain a general overview of the terrain
through which you are travelling, and decide
which way you are going to walk or ride,
which directions the valleys run, where the
local waterholes are, which way the local
rivers run, which high peaks can be used as
reference points, what shape the hills are,
what type of vegetation you expect to
encounter and so on. You should build up a
three-dimensional mental map. This should
always be the first step to any navigating, but
you would be surprised at just how often
people do not do this, preferring instead to
follow a course like a paper trail. If you are
192

Smoke can also be a useful guide to civilisation, although there is always the risk that
what you are seeing is a backcountry forest
fire.

touching the horizon, each finger that fits
between the sun and the horizon represents
around fifteen to twenty minutes.
The Stars
The tracks of departed warriors hunting in
the 'happy hunting ground' are another
reliable point to take bearings from, requiring
only the most basic of astronomical knowhow and a clear sky. In the northern
hemisphere, the best guide is polaris, the
north star. This can be found by using 'the big
dipper' and 'cassiopea' as pointers (see diagram). Polaris is never more than one degree
from the North Celestial pole.
In the southern hemisphere there is no
convenient star at or near the South Celestial
pole that can be seen by eye; the area is so
devoid of stars that it has been nicknamed
'the coal sack'. But its approximate position
can be calculated by using the Southern Cross
(see diagram).

The Sun
It is highly likely that at some time you will
need to gain your bearings relative to north or
simply to set a direct course in a cardinal
direction. Without a doubt, the most practical way to do this (without the aid of a
compass) is to use the sun. Because it is easier
to find west and east it is easier to think in
terms of sunset and sunrise than north and
south. The sun rises in the east and sets in the
west whether you are in the northern or
southern hemisphere.
To gain a guide to the cardinal directions
from the sun place a straight stick upright in
the ground on a level patch of earth. Where
the end of the shadow falls from this stick
place a small stone. Now you must wait for
the sun's position to alter. As it does so the
shadow will move. When several inches are
between the first shadow marker and the new
position of the shadow end mark where the
end of the shadow now falls with a twig. You
have now created an east-west line, the twig
being the east marker and the stone the west
marker. Now, by scratching or marking out
with sticks a straight line joining these
markers, north and south can be found at
ninety degrees to this line. This method will
work on all but the most cloudy days. A quick
guide to the direction of north or south can be
gained from the knowledge that at midday
the sun is south of you when you are standing
in the northern hemisphere, or north of you if
you are standing in the southern hemisphere.
There are of course variations according to
season but for our purposes this is enough
information to get us out of difficulty. If you
have a watch this can also be used as a means
of finding north, assuming you have corrected
its time to G.M.T. (Greenwich Mean Time).
See diagram.
Of course the sun can be of much more use
in navigation terms than just the methods
described above. The more you know about
this the better. But before moving on to other
heavenly compasses, a useful guide for the
woodsman who would know how long he has
before sunset is the finger guide. As the sun
nears the horizon hold your hand at arms
length so that the fingers are parallel to and

The belt of Orion gives an indication of your east-west
line.

193

which are isolated or the windward sides of
woods are usually wind swept by the prevailing local wind. But this is far less reliable, as
the local winds may be very local in nature,
channelled perhaps by valleys or a steep-sided
mountain pass. One of the most underrated
methods of determining direction is the
strength and number of branches a tree has
on its sunward side. The sunward side usually
has more branches and mostly horizontal
whereas the opposite side has fewer and they
tend to be more vertical. During winter, when
deciduous trees are all but bare, this can
sometimes even be discerned in a forest. But
here make certain that the trees or tree are on
level ground where they are exposed to the
sunlight for the full length of the day without
a shadow falling upon them, from for instance
a mountain.
Although at a pinch these techniques will
work they have little to recommend them
over the following techniques.

Finding the north celestial pole. For navigation purposes
Polaris, the north star can be your direction pointer.

Navigating the Native Way
The following are simple skills which can be
used whenever and wherever you are navigating either with or without a map. They are
little used today, yet were once the skills
which enabled man to safely explore the
trackless wilderness and find their way home
in safety long after their ordinary tracks had
been wiped from the ground by the elements.
If you are lost and bush navigating without
reliable indicators to direction, these techniques will keep you from becoming further
lost, by which I mean you will be able to find
your way back to your last fixed location.
First and foremost pick a noticeable landmark to travel to, in the direction you wish to
travel. Consider whether or not this will still
be visible when you have travelled some way
towards it. Try to find another reference point
with which to double check this first point. As
you travel keep a careful eye on your
reference markers. If the primary marker
seems to be disappearing from view, choose
another marker between you and it on the
same line. (A native scout who intended to
remain concealed would 'aim ofP from his
bearing reference.)
Secondly and most neglected of all by
modern navigators, look over your shoulder
and view the terrain you have just traversed.
It will look very different; you never know
when you may need to return the same way.

Finding the south celestial pole by the Southern Cross.

A crescent moon can also be used as a
rough and ready guide to direction. By
joining the crescent points with an imaginary
line stretching to the horizon, this will
indicate roughly south in the northern hemisphere and roughly north in the southern
hemisphere.
Other Indicators of Direction
There will of course be times when the skies
are clouded over and the above methods are
not practical. In these situations navigating
even in the most rudimentary of ways is
extremely difficult. There are some natural
signs which may help you find your way but
none are infallible, so they should never be
regarded as sufficient indication alone. Always look for several different indicators to
check out your theory. The best indicator that
I have found to be of use is an isolated tree in
open but sheltered ground. The detritus at
the base of the tree is more often than not
driest on the side away from the commonly
prevailing bad weather. Of course this assumes that you already know what the
prevailing weather is. The same is usually
true for large isolated boulders or tors. Trees
194

Finding north with a shadow stick. I set up the shadow stick. 2 set a marker stick at the end of the shadow. 3 wait for the
sun to move causing the shadow to move. 4 mark the end of the new shadow with a second marker stick. 5 draw a line
joining the two marker sticks; this is your west-east line so the north-sou.th line can be constructed at ninety degrees to this
line.

much more useful navigational tool than
many modern outdoors folk realise. Every
year in the vast forests of the world, a few
hikers will become hopelessly lost, panic and
then run into even more confusion. In most
cases they become lost only a few metres from
their campsite. Especially in thick woodland
it is easy to become turned around. In these
situations it is best to mark where you first
realised you became lost and then to trail
mark along an exploratory route back to
camp. In this way you can always find your
way back to the first place you were lost and
then try an alternative escape route. This is
more often than not a far quicker way to find
your way back than to guess and get it wrong.
I have used this successfully on several
occasions never having taken more than a
half hour at most to find landmarks I was
familiar with.
The panic of which I speak is a very
powerful one fuelled by the survival instinct.
Once I was asked by some walkers in the New
Forest where their car park was because they
were lost. So preoccupied were they that they

Thirdly and again a neglected technique,
mark your trail. A native with a keen eye for
changes in natural patterns would spot the
subtlest of trail markers such as piled up
stones or broken twigs and bent grasses. I
make use of this technique very often,
especially in areas of dense undergrowth. Try
to decide upon a consistent place for your
markers: on the right of a trail or always at
the foot of a tree for instance. If you are
practised at this it will be enough to leave an
indicator at trailheads and junctions. As you
mark your trail try to give descriptive names
to the landmarks you pass such as the forked
tree, or the elbow oak, to help fix these
landmarks in your memory.
Trail blazing is a more permanent method
of marking trails whereby the bark of a tree is
slashed off in a prearranged code. These are
still made in some parts of the world by
foresters, park rangers, and trappers, though
I prefer the less damaging trail signs. While I
have included some of the more common trail
signs and blazes here, you will undoubtedly
evolve your own code. These blazes are a very
195

Trail blazes.

Pine cone direction marker.

were completely oblivious to their surroundings, and indeed had difficulty believing me
when I told them that they were only about
ioo metres away. You only have to walk a few
feet off trail to become turned around by
mischievous elves so practise the above skills.

Bent twig trail marker.

Active Signals: These are the most valuable as they enable you to attract the attention
of potential rescuers. If you use the international emergency code, your need for help
should be plainly understood. These signals
include the use of fires for smoke or flame;
three fires set in a triangle shape are the
correct code. A mirror for signalling is first
class as it can be seen at great distances, as is a
torch at night. All of these signals pinpoint
your exact whereabouts. Also active and
much used in mountains is the whistle; six
blasts with a minute gap between each set of
six are the recognised rescue sign.
If you are entering regions where you know
that you may need to signal for help, apart
from the whistle you should always carry
flares or smoke canisters. For helicopter
rescues, smoke canisters are by far the best
signal as they pin-point your position as well
as indicating the wind direction. In fact long
after the smoke canister ceases producing
smoke, a large arrow of red smoke drifts away
pointing at where you are. These should only
be used when you are certain the smoke will
be seen. Flares are much less reliable although
they have saved many lives. They have a
double signal: firstly they make an audible
bang and secondly they show a bright light in
the sky. On expeditions always carry stocks of
flares which are fresh and not older than the

Rescue
If you find yourself in the situation of needing
rescue as any of us can, no matter how
experienced or skilled, it is vitally important
that you know the correct rescue signals.
Any rescue signal works by creating an
obvious contrast with the normal conditions;
the type of signal you use falls into one of two
categories: passive or active.
Passive signals: These are signals which
in themselves cannot reach out and attract
the attention of a rescuer, but if noticed or
looked for, give indication to your location
and predicament. These signals include
cleared spaces in dense vegetation, arrows
and S.O.S. symbols marked on the ground.
When making any such marker try to build it
in relief so that it casts a shadow to reinforce
and emphasise its outline. Letters or symbols
must be as large as possible. Brightly coloured
clothing is also a passive signal as is a
parachute laid out on the ground. Think in
terms of contrasting shapes, movements,
colours, sounds and smells.
196

expiry date.
Signalling for help: The following are the
agreed international emergency signals, used
to signal for rescue!

undergrowth before entering, and wear sensible footwear.
Snakebite: Unlikely as it may be, should you
be bitten by a snake the chances are greatly in
your favour that you will survive. Not all
snakes that bite are venomous, and those that
are equipped with venom, do not always
poison when they bite. In practical terms
there are basically two types of venomous
snakes: those that possess hemotoxic venom
and those with neurotoxic venom. Each of
these venoms works in a different way.
Hemotoxins are digesting venoms that attack
the body's red blood cells and destroy protein.
They cause severe pain and swelling, often to
horrific proportions. The tissue damage, in
these cases is often so severe as to cause the
amputation of the limb. The only positive
nature of a hemotoxin is that you are certain
that you have been envenomated because of
the pain. Neurotoxins on the other hand
cause little pain and local reaction. As is
suggested in their name they attack the
nervous system. While immediate signs of
envenomation are minimalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;nausea, vomiting, abnormal sweating and headacheâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;can
lead to a severe fall in the patient's blood
pressure, loss of muscular control and
eventual respiratory failure and heart
stoppage. It is important to keep the air
passage way clear to prevent the patient
gagging on his own tongue.

Six blasts on a whistle or horn in quick

succession with a gap of a minute between
each set of blasts. Or the same pattern of
flashes with a torch.
S.O.S.: Three short, three long, three short
blasts of sound or flashes of light.
Red flares or smoke.

Three fires positioned to form the points of a
triangle.
A rescue party may answer your signal
with a pattern of three flashes or blasts
interspersed with a minute or by using a white
flare. This means message understood. In bad
visibility keep signalling to guide your rescuers to you.
Hazards on The Trail
I have left these subjects to last because they
are really much less of a problem than the
dramatic stories which surround them suggest. In each case if you are heading into
regions where they are known to be a problem
seek advice from the locals, although beware
of scaremongering and old wives tales.
Snakes: For the most part snakes will only
be seen slithering away from you. If you spot
one further along the trail they can be
encouraged to quit your path by lobbing a
stone or stick in their vicinity (there is no need
to throw this directly at them). The greatest
danger comes from those activities where you
are searching around rocks and poking into
crevices. If you have to lift rocks in snake
country do so in such a way that the rock is
always between you and any angry snake you
may disturb underneath it.
Personally I walk quietly in the hope of
observing snakes in the wild. It is always a
rare and special treat to see them although a
somewhat unnerving one too, as frequently
you can be within striking distance before you
see through their camouflage by which time
they know you are there. Remember then
that a snake strikes towards movement so
stillness is better than flight. But if you are in
any way worried by snakes make some noise
or otherwise announce your presence as you
travel to give them ample opportunity to
escape.
Remember though that where you have
seen one snake others are sure to be found so
perhaps resort to using a stick to test thick

The field treatment for snake bites is a
subject of great controversy, but the following
is the treatment which seems to have the
greatest support from those who deal
regularly with the problem.
1. In all cases it is important to calm the
patient and encourage them to remain still.
Only water can be given.
2. Because venom is transported via the
lymphatic system the affected limb should be
completely bandaged, (in the same way you
would bandage a sprained ankle) firmly but
not tightly.
3. To further reduce the transport of
venom through the lymphatic system the limb
should be totally immobilised by splinting.
The lymph system achieves its motive force
from muscle contractions, a completely stilled
limb can completely reduce this motion.
4. The patient should be evacuated to
hospital, preferably treated as a stretcher
case. Should their blood pressure drop so
severely as to cause collapse, the legs should
197

be raised. If respiratory failure occurs, effective resuscitation should be carried out.
Additionally, it will greatly aid treatment if
the
species
of
snake
responsible
is identified, even a sketchy description is
better than none at all. Fortunately there are
few situations today when you are likely to be
outside the range of medical assistance, but if
you are, then and only then, might you
consider an attempt to remove the venom by
suction. Some tests indicate that a significant
proportion of the venom can be extracted by
suction within the first five minutes of the bite.
Suction should not be carried out by mouth as
a mouth sore or cavity will act in the same
way as the fang puncture. Syringe-style
suction devices available commercially are
the best solution here, and should be carried
when travelling well away from communication in snake country. Cutting the wound to
ease the venom extraction is also controversial
as it increases the risk of infection and may
allow the venom more easy and widespread
access to the lymphatic system. If cuts must be
made for use with a suction device they
should be no more than a couple of millimetres deep. These actions should ONLY BE
USED WHEN NORMAL MEDICAL
ASSISTANCE IS UNAVAILABLE, and
then only within the first five to ten minutes
after being bitten.
Bears: Bears are dangerous but now are
much reduced in numbers finding refuge in
only a few areas of wilderness, mostly in
America and Canada. The most dangerous is
undoubtedly the grizzly bear. But the 'Bear
Problem' so often a talking point among
novice outdoorsmen, is not what it seems. It is
more a case of the 'Human Problem'. When
you set foot in bear country you are the
intruder and menace, not the bear, it is his
territory.
There are many different methods recommended for dealing with bears almost as
many in fact as for dealing with snake bite.
But the general rule is simple; never argue
with a bear! If he is in camp and likes the
smell of your food, be the diplomat and
consider his dining a sign of his appreciation
of your culinary skills.
The following advice was given to me by a
U.S. park ranger who works in bear country,
so I pass it on. If you are confronted with an
angry black bear it is usually enough to run
away; this bear will normally recognise that

you are fleeing and pose no threat, and then
lose interest. But if on the other hand you are
confronted by an angry grizzly, oh brother
you're in trouble! The best policy is to move
very slowly and carefully away; any fast
gestures may be construed as a threat. Try to
move down wind to avoid your scent carrying
to the bear. If you are being charged you
probably won't have time to climb a tree, but
if you can, do so. In the worst circumstances
(you fall into the claws of a grizzly) play dead
with one hand protecting your throat and the
other your genitals. Experience has shown
that apart from a few nips and bites you will
probably survive, but if you fight back the
bear feels threatened and you will more than
likely be killed.
The best policy with bears is to let them
know that you are around when travelling so
they have time to move away. In some
regions, hikers are encouraged to wear bells
on their rucksacks to give the bears due
warning and to avoid attracting them to your
campsite by fastidious hygiene in camp.
Meals should always be prepared and eaten
away from camp; food should be stored away
from where you sleep and hoisted high into
the trees. Watch for any sign of bears and
avoid pitching your tent on streamside trails.
There is also some evidence that bears can be
attracted to female menstrual odours.
Some folk reckon the best way to deal with
a bear is a 44 magnum revolver, if so the
following advice gleaned from an expert
backwoodsman should be followed. 'Be sure
to file off the front sight of your magnum
before entering bear country.' Why? 'It's less
painful that way when the bear shoves it up
your ...!'
In general with the above hazards remember that you share the wilderness with them
and should give them the respect they
demand, this way you should have few
problems. I have yet to meet any experienced
backwoodsman who does not relish with a
sense of humble thanks, the opportunity to
watch these much maligned creatures living
out a truly wild life. Perhaps even in some
sense they envy them.
Poison ivy (Rhus radicans): Poison ivy can
occur as a shrub stem, a creeping vine or
trailing vine. It usually has a reddish tinge to
the stem. Contact with any part of this plant
can result in dermatitis, especially contact
with sweaty skin. Watch for this plant in
198

Light airy clothing covering all skin areas is
of course the obvious way to prevent insects
biting; smudging your hair and clothes with
smoke is also a useful deterrent as it reduces
your body scent.
Ticks are probably the most unpleasant of
all biting creatures. These are very tough
little creatures that sit on the undersides of
leaves waiting to leap off onto the backs of
deer or hikers. Once on your clothing they
search for exposed skin and begin to insert
their mouthparts, so that they can engorge
blood. While this may seem horrific and
painful, the problem is that it often goes
completely unnoticed, particularly with the
smallest ticks which are often no larger than a
pin head. If you spot one tick, there are
bound to be others; fortunately they take
several hours to become properly attached,
during which time they can be easily flicked
off. Work with a partner to inspect each other
at halts for meals or before turning in for the
night.
If you do find that one has become properly
attached, smear it with vaseline, axle grease
or fat to block up its breathing apparatus
forcing it to let go. Do not try to remove them
with a lighted cigarette, alchohol or iodine or
by squeezing them. Squeezing them only
forces their internal fluids into you, increasing
your risk of infection. Especially in some
regions of the world, ticks carry Scrub Typhus
(Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever).
There are of course many other nasty,
biting, stinging creatures which you might
encounter depending upon where you are
and what season you are there. But the above
are those which you are most likely to
encounter. While their presence is annoying
and sometimes painful, it is only in exceptional circumstances that they are the first thing
you will remember of a journey. People and
places, great scenery, majestic wildlife and
wildness far outweigh their nuisance value.

creeper form on your firewood, as the smoke
from incomplete combustion of this plant can
also cause problems if inhaled. The rash from
poison ivy has tell-tale white blisters. If you
are aware that you have come into contact
with this plant the effects can be reduced or
avoided even by washing with soap and water
soon after. If you become infected the medical
advice is to burst the blisters and apply an
alkaline solution. The juice from jewel weed
has been used as a bush remedy for poison ivy
rash as has a strong tannin solution.
Poison oak (R. toxicodendron): Similar to
poison ivy, it only occurs as a shrub, but
causes the same problems and is treated in the
same way.
Lumpraiser and the no-see-ums: So far
we have looked at the dramatic trailside
hazards with fabled fierce reputations, yet
none are as great a nuisance to your
enjoyment as the biting insects. Apart from
the risk from malaria, the mosquito is a
common and unwelcome visitor to any camp.
To avoid these insects at the height of their
season, camp on dry ground away from
marshy, water-logged ground or bodies of
water. A breezy ridge is the best protection
from flying insects; a smudge fire is the
alternative for still conditions, the smoke
acting as a repellent. In areas where they are
extremely numerous such as rain forest and
muskeg you may need to use face veils and
mosquito nets, in which case douse these in
chemical repellent as a further foil to these
persistent bloodsuckers.
Whereas the mosquito prefers to attack
solo, inflicting one or more large lumps as the
result of its blood extraction, the midge
prefers to attack en mass peppering you with
many tiny bites. Particularly around the face.
In Scotland the midges can be so bad as to be
almost unbearable, they are also or at least
seem to be more difficult to repel than
mosquitoes, although the same camping
routine applies; stay on breezy ridges and use
smudge fires away from water.
The other most noteworthy insect is the
horse fly; it bites with the ferociousness of a
miniature bulldog. Large, ugly and obvious,
these flies will attack solo or in pairs and
despite being so noticeable manage to sneak
past even the best defences. The only defence
against these is a tidy and clean campsite
situated on a breezy ridge, equipped with a
smudge fire for when the breezes are still.

Making Tracks
So we reach the end of our short journey. If
you have practised all of the skills covered in
the preceding pages you should be well on the
way to seeing the world through native eyes
and gaining the understanding that comes
from such a vision. All you need now is
practise and some adventures. I wish you well
199

on your travels and hope that you find similar
enjoyment to that which I have experienced.
If you follow Nature's rules and give respect
where it is due you will come to no harm.
Walk with caution rather than with fear and
know yourself.
Remember that even if we have difficulty

recognising it, the truth is that for our
well-being, we still interact with the same
natural forces as our aboriginal cousins. For
life we need fresh air, clean water, healthy
food, space to spread our shoulders and wild
places to refresh our spirit and renew our
closeness to the earth.